Violent clashes have been reported in Masisi where the M23 fighters are trying to dislodge Congolese government troops from their bases.
According to eyewitness reports, fighting begun at about 3.00Am on Wednesday and continued all through the day.
The front is located near Kagoma hill, towards Malehe and Ruvunda villages, in Masisi territory. Sake residents have fled to safer zones to avoid being trapped in crossfire of heavy and light weapons until this afternoon. Sake is located 27 km west of Goma. Massive population displacements are also reported.
“From early Wednesday morning the M23 rebels attacked the FARDC positions in Malehe. We were forced to flee. I left home at 8:30. I don’t know where to go,” says Bihango Bwira, father of six, displaced from Malehe.
Sources say that the rebels are expected to target the locality of Mushake which gives the way to Sake.
“ FARDC positions have been under attack since 3am that the FARDC positions have been attacked at Kamuronza, Ruvunda, going towards Mushaki. They want to take over Mushaki. For the moment, heavy weapons are heard in Sake and Mushake. Population in various surrounding villages have fled,” revealed Olivier Mungwiko, spokesperson for the youth parliament in Sake.
Sake is located less than 50 km from Kitshanga, another strategic town in Masisi territory, which has come under M23 control since Thursday 26 January.
The capture of Kitshanga by the M23 effectively cut off the city of Goma from the northern part of the province of North Kivu.
