Congolese police officers flee to Uganda as fighting intensifies

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Nearly 100 police officers from the Democratic Republic of 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.

"The main push factor is the intensifying violence and insecurity," Tabaro said, adding that pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and young children were among the refugees.

The M23 has been waging a fresh insurgency in Congo's militia-plagued east since 2022. A United Nations report seen by Reuters last month said the Ugandan army has provided support to the Tutsi-led rebel group, a charge Uganda denies.

The U.N. has long accused Uganda's neighbour Rwanda of backing the M23, which has repeatedly seized large parts of mineral-rich eastern Congo, allegations Rwanda denied.

Efforts by Congo's military to push back the rebels have intensified over the past year with the use of drones and aircraft, although the rebels have still expanded territory under their control.

In June, the M23 seized the town of Kanyabayonga, whose location on high ground makes it a coveted gateway to other parts of eastern Congo's North Kivu province.

Fighting in North Kivu has driven more than 1.7 million people from their homes, taking the total number of Congolese displaced by multiple conflicts to a record 7.2 million, according to U.N. estimates.

(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by George Obulutsa and Ros Russell)