(MENAFN) Over 700 Congolese citizens have entered neighboring Rwanda to escape fresh confrontations between the M23 rebel faction and government troops in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials reported Friday.

This comes just a day after the leaders of both nations endorsed a US-mediated peace accord aimed at resolving the long-standing conflict.

Phanuel Sindayiheba, a local government representative in Rwanda’s Rusizi district along the Congo border, informed reporters that women and children make up the majority of the refugees.

He added that the newcomers are temporarily accommodated at a transit facility in the district, where they are being supplied with essential provisions, such as food and bedding.

Social media videos depicted streams of displaced individuals moving toward Rwanda via the Bugarama-Kamanyola border crossing, some carrying personal belongings and livestock.

Local news outlets reported Friday that hostilities escalated in the morning around Luvungi town in South Kivu province, with clashes between Congolese troops and M23 rebels forcing a large number of residents to flee.

According to a regional news platform, the rebel forces launched organized assaults on government positions at dawn, sparking concerns immediately after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame signed the US-brokered peace agreement in Washington.

Lawrence Kanyuka, an M23 representative, stated on the American social media platform X that Congolese forces and their allies carried out “attacks on densely populated areas in North Kivu and South Kivu, using fighter jets, drones, and heavy artillery.”

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