Reports emerging from the war theatre in Walikale territory of North Kivu indicate that the battle hardened AFC/M23 rebels are preparing to pounce on Pinga town.
Local media reports claimed that the rebels have been pooling in new reinforncements from Monday.
‘Rebels arrived Monday and Tuesday in Mpety, in the Banakindi area (Kisimba group), in the Walikale territory of North Kivu,’ a local media outlet actualite reported.
While the trucks carrying rebels approached Minjenje, near Mpety, they were prevented from crossing the river due to lack of a bridge.
‘The AFC/M23 fighters continued on foot to Mpety, the rebels’ largest stronghold in the area around Pinga,’ the mediaoutlet added that reinforcements came from Kitshanga, Mweso, and Kalembe. Its sources believe the rebels objective is to attack the strategic town of Pinga, which has been coveted by the rebels for several months.
Meanwhile, reports from the frontline indicate that the rebels on Tuesday launched attacks against government forces and Wazalendo militia effectively ejecting them from villages of Kasheke and Bituna in the Osso Banyungu sector (Masisi territory) in North Kivu.
Local sources, the rebels now occupy all the camps abandoned by the Wazalendo in Kasheke and Bituna. The Wazalendo have retreated to Kautu, where they have joined government forces.
Residents of these villages have fled to the villages of the Waloa Yungu group, in the territory of Walikale.
The growing tension on ground comes at a time, representatives of the Kinshasa regime and AFC/M23 on Saturday signed a new framework for peace.
However, Benjamin Mbonimpa, representing the M23 delegation in Doha said the agreement contained “no binding clauses” and would not change “the situation on the ground”.
The text contains eight chapters devoted to the “root causes of the conflict”, to be negotiated “before reaching a comprehensive peace agreement,” Mbonimpa said, in the statement.
