At night, crime and fear stem dr congo's M23 run areas

Bukavu: Every morning the Congolese city of Bukavu, which is now under the control of the Rwanda Backedm23 movement, counts its dead.Corpses are discovered at dawn, which are located in the steep streets of the capital of the province of South Kivu, which has been in the hands of the government group since mid -February after starting a lightning offensive.The Congolese government left the area after the M23 fighter and its Rwandian allies confiscated the city in the volatile eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and made practically no resistance.At the end of January, the M23 had already taken control of another big city in the East -Drc, Goma.But the armed group has tried to have the huge area that she captured under control.There nobody knows the circumstances that deal with nightly murders, or can certainly identify their perpetrators.The areas under M23 control no longer have dishes or prisons and hardly any police.The approximately two million Bukavu residents can enjoy a certain level of normality during the day, but when it gets dark, the streets empty.“We stay awake all night. Bandits can break into our houses at any moment,” said Jean Bosco, a resident of Bukavu, who said he hurried home before dark.Congolese troops fled from the city left their weapons behind, which were then picked up by criminals.Thousands of Pro-Kinshasa “Wazalendo” (“Patriots” in Swahili) militia members who are known for their abuse and lack of military discipline have hidden around the city in districts.They were accompanied by hundreds of criminals who were released from prison.They rob and break into houses in small groups.A lack of cash in M23-called areas in which banks were closed months ago and no longer delivered by authorities in the capital of Kinshasa also promotes crime.“Widespread fear” “Last week they broke into my sister's place, they hit them in their heads to bring their hand over their things,” said Bosco.“No night goes by without having to attack households,” said Amos Bissimwa, who represents civil society groups in Bukavu and spoke of “widespread fear”.The residents try to organize themselves as well as possible and buy whistle to alert neighbors in the event of an attack and lamps to illuminate the streets.Lynch mynchions of alleged criminal, sometimes cover -up for revenge, were widely documented by humanitarian and civil society groups.The United Nations also accused the M23 movement of the extrajudicial murders of alleged criminals, which are sometimes under the age of 18.According to security sources, the M23 has between 6,000 and 10,000 on -site fighters and currently relies on millions of people who live in areas that control them to report criminals.But it faces a certain reluctance, with some feared reprisals and others establishing a form of passive resistance.This applies in particular in cities that are “more politicized than the landscape”, said OnePhor Sematumba, a researcher of the international crisis group.After taking Goma, the M23 “stood a dilemma: stay in Goma to consolidate his positions and demonstrate his ability to (these areas) or the lack of resistance to the chase of the Congolese army as far as possible and force Kinshasa,” said Sematumba.By taking Bukavu and significantly expanding his territory, he added: “The M23 can be found everywhere and nowhere.” “Tired of constant wars” The hills around Bukavu and Goma have turned into a refuge for thousands of “Wazalendo” militia members who climb into the cities to carry out Guerrilla war and prey houses.On April 11th, militia members started a nightly attack on Goma, but were quickly pushed back by the M23, with intensive fire swinging in several parts of the city.Two days later, they started an idea in the Kavumu district in Bukavu, where the airport is located.The M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka later invited the media to the asphalt of the airport, where he said that the group did its best to secure the population 24 hours a day while recognizing that the “Wazalendo” committed “crime every day.In the city center of Kavumu, a young man said on the condition of anonymity that he was “tired of the constant wars”.“If the Wazalendo appears, we will welcome you. If the M23 rebels appear, we will do the same,” he said.The M23 group, which hopes to collect support from the population through good governance, aims to improve their ranks.Thousands of Congolese police officers and soldiers who have joined the M23 receive technical and ideological training.Some have already been used at the weekend, said an M23 representative AFP.