PHOTOS: Kinshasa's drones destroy park rangers camp in North Kivu
The Congolese government coalition has been accused of carrying out drone attacks on civilian properties in Rumangabo, North Kivu province on Sunday, May 24.
These attacks are reported as the country is battling an outbreak of Ebola virus disease, which is reported to have killed over 170 people in Ituri and North Kivu provinces since mid-May.
The attacks follow drone strikes of May 8, which killed at least 30 civilians in Mushaki, North Kivu. These too were blamed on the goverment coalition, which includes Burundian forces, FDLR and Wazalendo militias as well as foreign mercenaries.
The AFC/M23 rebels said the Sunday morningattacks caused loss of human lives and hit a camp of Virunga National Park rangers. Videos and pictures circulated on social media showed a cloud of smoke coming out of the one of the buildings in the park rangers' camp.
"This barbaric attack caused loss of human lives, sowed terror among the civilian population, and inflicted significant material damage on the homes and property of innocent people," said Lawrence Kanyuka, the AFC/M23 spokesperson.
Kanyuka added that similar attacks had been carried out in South Kivu province since Saturday.
"Even as populations face the threat of the Ebola virus disease, the Kinshasa regime continues to systematically carry out massacres of civilians and openly violates existing agreements," Kanyuka wrote in an X post on Sunday.
"These acts, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity, are taking place in full view of everyone, amid the complicit silence of certain mediation actors and part of the international community, several of whom support the Kinshasa regime politically, diplomatically, and militarily in its campaign of terror against civilian populations."
'Double standards becoming impossible to ignore'
The vice-governor of North Kivu, Willy Manzi, accused the international community and mediator of double standards in dealing with the parties to the conflict.
"If similar events were attributed to AFC/M23, international condemnation would likely be immediate and overwhelming," Manzi wrote in a post on X on Sunday morning.
"Yet when civilians in Rubaya and Rumangabo are targeted, the response from many international actors remains muted. These double standards are becoming impossible for the population to ignore.
"The people of this region remember the consequences of indifference," the vice-governor added.
"The international community must choose whether it truly stands for peace and justice, or whether strategic interests and access to resources will continue to outweigh the lives of innocent people."
