‘Living in fear’ amid relentless battle for eastern DR Congo
Al Jazeera
Civilians have been caught in the fighting between pro-government forces and M23 rebels vying for control in North Kivu.
Kanyabayonga, Democratic Republic of the Congo – Innocent Kasereka sits in a rundown hospital in the war-torn eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), his neck bandaged where he was brutally slashed with a knife.
The 30-year-old recounts how he was caught in the middle of the conflict between the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) and M23 rebels that has been raging since late 2021.
The attack on Kasereka took place at a coffee plantation in the agricultural town of Kibirizi in North Kivu province at the start of May.
It had been seized two months earlier by M23 and the Rwandan army, which has been fighting alongside the rebel group.
“When the M23 arrived in Kibirizi they held a meeting and assured us that we were safe,” Kasereka said, forlornly, in the hospital director’s office.
