Rwanda-backed rebels advance in eastern Congo as residents flee by the thousands

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 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 as residents and business owners braced for what comes next.

Most people waited in their homes, 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.

Reports and social media videos showed the region’s factories pillaged and prisons emptied while electricity remained on and communication lines open in most places.

“It’s a disgrace. Some citizens have fallen victim to stray bullets. Even some soldiers still present in the city are involved en masse in these cases of looting,” said a 25-year-old resident of a neighborhood being looted.