Panic swept through eastern Congo’s second-largest city on Saturday as residents fled by the thousands, scrambling to escape the looming advance of Rwanda-backed rebels.
The morning after M23 fighters entered the outskirts of Bukavu — a city of about 1.3 million people that lies 63 miles (101 kilometers) south of rebel-held Goma — some streets were flooded by residents attempting to leave and looters filling flour sacks with what they could find. A pall of silence set in later in the day as residents and business owners braced for what comes next.
Most people waited in their home, shocked as corpses burnt to ash lay strewn in the streets — casualties of the looters who filled the vacuum left by Congolese soldiers earlier abandoning their posts.
“They set fire to the ammunition they were unable to take with them,” said Alain Iragi, among the residents who fled in search of safety on Saturday.
(Source AP)
