Bukavu mourns 27 fire victims

In brief

Funerals were held on September 14 for 27 people killed in a fire that destroyed a school in the Cimpunda district of Bukavu. The victims included six adults and minors who were pupils at the school. The blaze occurred on September 10 in the capital of South Kivu Province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The provincial coordination of the Civil Society of South Kivu described the situation as a humanitarian catastrophe. The group reported that in less than a week, fires destroyed hundreds of homes, two schools, a church, and 66 shops in the Kadutu market. Other recent fires killed three people in Ponzi and left 174 families homeless in Nyamugo. Citing Congolese administration figures from Uvira, the group noted that 2,500 homes were destroyed by fire between July and August.

Civil society representatives called on the M23 rebel administration, which currently controls Bukavu, to explain the lack of fire services and the failure to investigate the causes of these fires. The group stated that failing to investigate fires is a form of complicity and noted that the administration is collecting taxes from the local population without providing services.