Patients in hospitals across the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s second-largest city have recounted suffering severe injuries amid the disorderly retreat of the Congolese army and its allies, just days before Rwanda-backed M23 rebels took control.  

Intense gunfire and looting erupted ahead of the rebels’ arrival in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, on February 14, straining the city’s already underfunded hospitals.

“I was lying on my bed at home, near Katana,” said 22-year-old Priscilla Nabintu from her bed in Bukavu’s general hospital, adding, “All of a sudden, a bullet hit me [in the shin] and I started bleeding.”

The hospital near Lake Kivu remained crowded on Monday, with two blocks reserved for patients with gunshot and shrapnel wounds.  

Mugisho Shalukoma, 20, was recovering from a leg amputation caused by gunshot injuries. “I felt my foot getting harder and harder,” he said. “I didn’t see the person who shot me. Those around me brought me here.”

Ghislaine Ntakwinja, 41, said she was in her house when unidentified gunmen shot her in her right hand. “Guns were ringing out in the city,” she said, sitting on her bed. “I heard armed men open my house’s door. They had guns. That’s when they shot me.” Her children rushed her to the hospital.

As M23 advanced on Bukavu, reports surfaced of civilians gathering weapons and military equipment abandoned by retreating Congolese forces.  

Deogracias Chibambo, a human rights activist with the Ça Suffit (That’s Enough) civic engagement group, said firearms had been circulating freely, even among children, causing significant harm. “There was general panic. Bullets were being fired in many places,” he said.

M23 attacks

The UN human rights office last week accused M23 rebels of killing three children in Bukavu who were armed and dressed in uniforms from an abandoned Congolese military camp after they refused to hand over their weapons. M23 dismissed the accusation as government propaganda.  

Esperance Mwamini Birindwa, a nurse with the International Committee of the Red Cross at the general hospital, reported that between 14 and 24 February, 162 people were admitted with injuries linked to the M23 takeover, including three who succumbed to gunshot and shrapnel wounds.

M23 has advanced swiftly this year, escalating regional tensions and involving neighboring armies, sparking concerns of a broader conflict.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is struggling with supply shortages due to the conflict, limiting its ability to treat the wounded.

Its warehouse in Goma, the capital of North Kivu, was among several facilities looted and vandalized during last month’s fighting, resulting in the theft of medicine and supplies.

“Despite all our efforts, evacuations sometimes take longer than expected because of access difficulties,” said ICRC project manager Emmanuel Konin. “Some patients whose lives we could have tried to save are already dead from their injuries.”