Mechanical diggers spent days digging the dark volcanic country of Goma and preparing long trenches in which the victims of one of the deadliest battles in the Democratic Republic were buried in the Democratic Republic in Congo.
Humanitarian workers in hazma suits and teenagers in flip flops and dirty masks tended to the dead in the middle of a stunning odor.
“We have mass funerals ahead,” said Myriam Favier, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Goma.
Almost 3,000 people were killed by early estimates provided by UN Peace in the Eastern Congo last week. The fighting between M23, a rebel group that the UN says is funded by Rwanda, and the Congolese armed forces led to captivity of Gom Rebels last week.
Millions have died in Congo over the past 30 years, where ethnic tensions and fighting for access to land and mineral resources broke into several wars. But rarely was so much killed in a few days, the experts said.
Although most of the fighting in recent days has stopped in Goma, captivity of the M23 cities has aroused fears of the wider war between Congo, Rwanda and their relevant allies.
According to Vivian van de Perre, Deputy Head of Peace Forces based in Goma, he is probably underestimated in Goma’s death.
Many bodies must still be collected in GOMA areas that humanitarian organizations remain unattainable. According to the International Cross International Committee, more than 2,800 additional Congoles, almost two -thirds of civilians, were injured.
The ongoing conflict has already caused mercenaries from Eastern Europe and soldiers from allied countries such as Burundi and Uganda. The UN UN, who were deployed in the Eastern Congo for a dozen years, were accused of not doing enough to end the fighting.
M23 started entry to Goma 26 January and January 30 fully captured the city after a monthly offensive. More than 700,000 people were displaced.
In front of the city airport on Tuesday, dozens of volunteers and workers of the Red Cross buried the victims in a mass Graves dug into an already crowded cemetery.
The earth where bodies can be buried in Goma is limited, Mrs. Favier said. The city is in the corner of Rwanda on its east side, Lake Kivo on its south coast and camps for displaced people and M23 controlled areas in its eastern and northern areas.
Rwanda denied the support of M23, although officials from the United Nations emphasize how her army and intelligence services train, arm and command rebels. Experts say Rwanda is trying to use mineral resources in the eastern Congo using M23 as a group’s proxy.
From the capture of GOMA, the M23 fighters guarded the streets on board vehicles seized from the Congo Army. They wear tactical equipment and wear modern automatic rifles and sophisticated electronic devices that give them the appearance of a conventional army.
This week, the leaders of the insurgents threatened to attack the UN base, where 2,000 Congolese were accepted by shelter if they did not give them individual. According to UN officials who were protected at the base, the high -ranking Congolese military and intelligence officers, the mayor and civil servants of the city belongs.
On Wednesday, M23 broke the unilateral ceasefire, which declared the days earlier and captured the village in the neighboring Goma province in South Kiv.
The scars of the Battle of Goma are everywhere – on the windshields of cars carrying leaflets that pay tribute to the dead, in schools of guest families that have fled their homes.
Among many victims buried this week was the famous local boxer Jean de Dieu Baleza, known as Kibomango, who, according to his relatives, was killed by a stray bullet. Mr. Baleza was founded by Friendship Boxing Club, where he trained generations of young boxers who were children’s soldiers, Received by armed groups such as M23 in East Congo.
M23 ordered the local residents to clean Goma streets, but remain dotted with military uniforms abandoned by the Congolese soldiers.
“Wherever I sweep, I will find them,” said Anna Madendo, showing dozens of bullets gathered in her courtyard. Mrs. Mapendo and her husband said that about 20 Congolese soldiers broke into their house last week to escape the M23 warriors who attacked the airport sitting behind their house.
Two of their sons were injured bullets when they were in their courtyard, Mrs. Ma Magendo said. She just returned from the hospital to bring them rice and cassation.
Désiré Mirimba, the husband of Mrs. Mapendo, accused the Congolese soldiers of looting their home when they fled the rebels. “So far we feel safe with the new ones,” Mirimba said with reference to M23. “But we know it’s very uncertain.”
On Wednesday, Goma’s pockets remained unattainable for humanitarian agencies that lost months to looting in looting last week. Drugs, World Food Rice Rice and Cooking cans were on sale throughout the city.
The frozen foreign aid announced by Trump’s administration last week caused an alarm about the deteriorating situation in the Eastern Congo, which was already one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world.
Caleb Kabanda contributed by reporting from GOMA and Justin configured From Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
