Goma: nearly 80 people killed in less than a month

According to the local civil society, at least 80 people have been killed in the city of Goma, capital of the province of North Kivu in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in less than a month. The civil society deplores the inaction of authorities who are no longer able to protect inhabitants from the rising insecurity in this part of the east. Political actors believe that the state of siege established by the President of the Republic, Félix Tshisekedi, has failed in its mission to secure citizens. INFO SOS Médias Burundi
The civil society in Goma demands the immediate resignation of authorities of the state of siege for incompetence and failure to safeguard the peace of the population.
In a joint meeting between civil society actors and the urban authority of the city of Goma on August 14, its leaders noted that the number of deaths in the capital of North Kivu was too high.
« We do not understand how 80 people can be killed like cows in a city like Goma. This explains the incompetence of the authorities of the state of siege », castigates Maryon Ngavho Kambale, chairperson of the urban civil society of Goma.
Several civilians from the city of Goma in collaboration with opinion leaders and even leaders of various pressure groups and human rights defenders of the province of North Kivu demand the immediate resignation of the authorities of the state of siege.
« The state of siege has failed miserably and we only want to see these actors out of our province because they have sown total insecurity in our cities and territories, » laments Georges Kimoli, a resident of Goma who demands the departure of members of the state of siege starting with the governor.
« The only thing that can rejoice us now is to see the governor and his agents return from where they came because they do not help us in any way, » says Jean Mutambikwa, another resident of Goma.
Some political actors deplore that they are no longer close to their activists since the establishment of the state of siege.
« Since the state of siege, even we, the elected members of parliament of the province, no longer have the right to visit our voters. And then in all this there is the rise of insecurity in all the localities of the east, because before the state of siege, the M23 had not yet taken the territory of Rutshuru in its entirety, but it is after the establishment of the state of siege that Rutshuru was taken, then Masisi and now it is Lubero that is back in the hands of the enemy of peace which is the M23. I repeat that the state of siege has failed its mission », insisted Safari Nyagatare Olivier, elected provincial member of parliament of the territory of Masisi.
Several human rights organizations have criticized the rise in insecurity, especially during the state of siege imposed by the President of the DRC, a measure whose mission was to neutralize local and foreign armed groups and even definitively eradicate insecurity throughout the national territory. The state of siege was declared in May 2021.