"We heard several gunshots and even heavy weapons being fired, then we were told the M23 overran the FARDC (DRC armed forces) to enter Sake. This is why I fled," said Jeremy Posho, carrying his 11-year-old daughter.
In the face of conflict, families lugging their belongings walked along a 15-kilometer stretch of road linking the town of Sake with Goma, which the M23 briefly overran during their last major insurrection in 2012.
"I fled because I saw other people leaving," Sake resident Ismail Muhima told Reuters, adding he also heard shots. "The FARDC were not telling us anything and people started leaving so that's why I also fled, because we know the enemy is close."
According to Kivu Security Tracker, which maps unrest in eastern Congo, the army and the M23 have been clashing north of Sake since Monday.
Two DRC army spokespeople and the M23 did not respond to requests for comment.
Battles broke out in November around Kibumba, an area 20 kilometres north of Goma that rebels were meant to have left a month later as part of a ceasefire brokered by East African regional leaders.
But there has been evidence of M23 movements in places from which they were meant to withdraw as well as signs of advances in other areas, suggesting the offensive is ongoing. The group has denied this.
