KAMPALA — Nearly 100 police officers from the Democratic Republic of Congo fled to neighboring Uganda over the weekend as fighting between M23 rebels and the Congolese military in the country’s east intensified, a Ugandan military spokesperson said on Monday.
The officers arrived via the Ishasha border crossing in the Kanungu district of southwestern Uganda, said Major Kiconco Tabaro, a regional spokesperson for the Uganda People’s Defence Forces.
The 98 officers, who were accompanied by 43 guns and ammunition, were subsequently disarmed.
“They were fleeing fighting by M23 and other militias and the Congo military. There’s a lot of violence there and then there’s also hunger,” Tabaro said.
Over the past four days, at least 2,500 more Congolese refugees have arrived in Uganda, escaping the escalating violence across the border, he added.
“The main push factor is the intensifying violence and insecurity,” Tabaro noted, highlighting that pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and young children were among the refugees.
The M23 has been waging a fresh insurgency in Congo’s militia-plagued east since 2022.
A United Nations report seen by Reuters last month alleged that the Ugandan army has provided support to the Tutsi-led rebel group, a charge Uganda denies.
The UN has long accused Uganda’s neighbor Rwanda of backing the M23, which has repeatedly seized large parts of mineral-rich eastern Congo—allegations Rwanda has consistently denied.
Efforts by Congo’s military to push back the rebels have intensified over the past year with the use of drones and aircraft, although the rebels have still expanded the territory under their control.
In June, the M23 seized the town of Kanyabayonga, whose strategic location on high ground makes it a coveted gateway to other parts of North Kivu province.
Fighting in North Kivu has driven more than 1.7 million people from their homes, bringing the total number of Congolese displaced by multiple conflicts to a record 7.2 million, according to UN estimates.
Email us at: info@alleastafrica.com
