Homes, churches, schools and commercial buildings have been destroyed and civilians, including women and children, killed or injured in what AFC/M23 describes as intensified military attacks across Minembwe and the High Plateaus of South Kivu following its withdrawal from Uvira.
In a communiqué issued on February 2, AFC/M23 said the withdrawal left the area exposed to coordinated operations by forces aligned with the Kinshasa government, including the Congolese army, allied militias, foreign mercenaries and Burundian military units. According to the group, densely populated villages have been repeatedly targeted over the past week with armed drones and Sukhoi-25 fighter aircraft, while a blockade around Minembwe has restricted the movement of people and goods and accelerated civilian suffering.
The movement said the full human and material toll remains impossible to verify due to an Internet shutdown and mass displacement, with many civilians fleeing into surrounding forests.
It linked the latest attacks to a pattern of violence dating back to January 22 in several localities across the High Plateaus and warned of growing troop concentrations and operational hubs used to plan further strikes.
AFC/M23 accused the Kinshasa authorities of breaching a ceasefire agreed amid ongoing Doha negotiations and warned that the scale and systematic nature of the violence poses what it called an imminent threat of genocide against the Banyamulenge community.
The group appealed to the international community to intervene urgently to halt the attacks and secure protection for civilians .