Fighters from the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo have claimed control of the eastern city of Goma in recent weeks after a power outage that has forced thousands from their homes and a A wide regional war threatens to erupt.
“We urge all residents of Goma to remain calm. The liberation of the city has been successfully carried out, and the situation is under control,” M23 spokesman, Lawrence Kanoka, said. said on x.
It was unclear Monday morning how much of Goma, the capital of North Kivu state in eastern DRC, was under rebel control, but witnesses in the city said rebel fighters could be seen in the center. Residents said gunfire could be heard near the airport, the city center and near the Rwandan border.
Uruguay’s military said the rebels had ordered government troops to surrender by 3 a.m. Monday (0100 GMT) and 100 Congolese troops had handed over their weapons to Uruguayan troops at the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC (Monosco). were handed over. On Monday morning, MONUSCO staff and their families were being evacuated across the border into Rwanda, where 10 buses were waiting to pick them up.
DRC’s eastern borderlands are a tender box of rebel and militia fiefdoms, stemming from two regional wars since Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, when Hutu extremists killed nearly 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus. What did M23 is the latest in a long line of Tutsi-led rebel movements.
On Sunday, UN Special Representative Bantu Keita told the UN Security Council that despite peacekeepers’ support for the Congolese armed forces, M23 and Rwandan forces entered the Mangi neighborhood on the outskirts of Goma, which caused “mass panic”. Keita said M23 fighters were advancing and using residents “as human shields” as others fled for their lives.
The DRC’s foreign minister, Therese Kikwamba Wagner, told the Security Council that Rwanda was “declaring a front of aggression, a war that no longer hides itself behind diplomatic maneuvers”.
Rwanda’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ernest Romekwo, did not confirm or deny the DRC’s claims. He blamed the country’s government, saying the crisis could have been averted if it had “demonstrated a genuine commitment to peace”.
M23 says it exists to protect the ethnic Tutsi population in the DRC. Rebels briefly took power in Goma in 2012 after international donors cut aid to the group over its support. He underwent surgery again in late 2021 with increased support from Rwanda.
M23’s aggressive threats worsen one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises. According to the United Nations, more than a third of the population of North Kivu state has been displaced.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
