- Title: Congo holds mass funeral or victims of eastern conflict
- Date: 2nd September 2024
- Summary: GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (SEPTEMBER 02, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HEALTH WORKERS IN PROTECTIVE CLOTHING LOWERING VARIOUS COFFINS TO THE GRAVES WOMAN CRYING DURING THE BURIAL HEALTH WORKERS REMOVING THE CONGOLESE FLAG FROM COFFIN IN GRAVE VARIOUS OF WORKERS CARRYING AND LOWERING COFFINS VARIOUS OF WORKERS COVERING GRAVES WITH CONCRETE SAFI BAHUMA, WHOSE BROTHER I
- Embargoed: 16th September 2024 18:25
- Keywords: Central Africa Conflict Congo DRC Death Democratic Republic of East Africa Funeral Government Grave Health Insurgency Kivu Mass Grave North Politics Security War West Africa international Relations
- Location: GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
- City: GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
- Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of the
- Topics: Africa,Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA001101002092024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: PART AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING
Congo's eastern city of Goma held a memorial service on Monday for 200 victims of the conflict between the army and rebels that are waging a renewed insurgency in the vast central African country's militia-plagued east. The time and circumstances of the killings were unclear. Authorities said all were direct or indirect victims of the fighting, ranging from unarmed civilians to volunteer defense forces.
The memorial was attended by government officials that had traveled from Kinshasa, along with local officials and family members.
The Tutsi-led M23 rebels have been waging a fresh insurgency in the vast central African country's militia-plagued east since 2022. Congo authorities, the United Nations, the United States and other Western governments have accused Rwanda of backing the group. Rwanda denies the accusations, which have inflamed relations with Kinshasa.
The fighting has driven more than 1.7 million people from their homes in North Kivu, taking the total number of Congolese displaced by multiple conflicts to a record 7.2 million, according to U.N. estimates.
Congo is also the epicentre of an mpox outbreak that the World Health Organization declared to be a global public health emergency last month. Vaccines are set to arrive within days to fight the new strain of the virus.
(Production: Djaffar Al-Kantaty, Ngouda Dione) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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