The message comes from the Africa desk of the US State Department. The United States, it says, condemns “the drone attack on Mushaki” in North Kivu, as well as “the massacres” near Uvira in South Kivu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Washington does not provide further details or assign blame, but calls on “all parties to exercise the utmost restraint,” to engage in implementing the ceasefire, and to prioritize dialogue.
Earlier, on Friday, May 8, the rebels of the AFC-M23 accused the Congolese army of carrying out a deadly drone strike in Mushaki, a location under their control, about 40 km west of Goma. Witnesses reported two loud explosions and widespread panic in the vicinity of the busy Mushaki market, particularly on Fridays.
The rebels mention a high human toll that no independent source has been able to confirm. Kinshasa, on the other hand, has not commented on the matter.
Read more: East of the DRC: a “very worrying” humanitarian situation in the high plateaus of South Kivu, described by the ICRC
Regarding Monusco, it has expressed being “very concerned” about this information and more broadly denounces a “new wave of deadly attacks” targeting civilians and causing “dozens” of victims in the three provinces of eastern DRC.
