Congolese police officers flee to Uganda as fighting intensifies

5/8/2024 19:22

        Congo fled to neighbouring Uganda over the weekend as fighting between M23 rebels and the military in Congo's east intensified, a Ugandan military spokesperson said on Monday.
        
        The officers arrived via the Ishasha border crossing in Kanungu district in southwestern Uganda, Major Kiconco Tabaro, a regional spokesperson for the Uganda People's Defence Forces, said.
        
        The 98 officers arrived with 43 guns and ammunition and were subsequently disarmed.
        
        "They were fleeing fighting by M23 and other militias and the Congo military, there's a lot of violence there and then there's also hunger," Tabaro said.
        
        Over the past four days at least 2,500 more Congolese refugees have arrived in Uganda fleeing the raging violence across the border, he said.