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OpenM23 Rebels Claim To Have Taken Goma, Eastern DRC
Rebels claim to have taken control of the city of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, but the government denies it.
As reported by BBC, videos show M23 rebels patrolling Goma after advancing on the Congolese army, causing tens of thousands to flee.
According to local media reports, the streets are now quiet after hours of fighting.
DR Congo’s foreign minister accuses Rwanda of declaring war by supporting M23. Rwanda admits backing M23 but blames DR Congo for supporting anti-Kigali militias.
Kenya calls for a ceasefire and an emergency summit with DR Congo and Rwanda. M23 has controlled parts of eastern DR Congo since 2021 and recently advanced on Goma.
Key roads are blocked, and the airport is closed. The government claims it still controls strategic areas, including the airport. It said:
Contrary to the manipulative messages circulating on social networks the FARDC [the DR Congo army] hold the Goma airport… and all the strategic points of the capital of the North Kivu Province.
It added that the army was “more than determined to defend the homeland at the cost of the supreme sacrifice.”
The rebels ordered soldiers to surrender their weapons, imposing a 48-hour deadline that ended early on Monday. UN peacekeepers said some Congolese soldiers had surrendered their firearms before the deadline.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on Rwanda to withdraw its forces from DR Congo and urged M23 to stop its advance.
He called on Rwanda to “cease support to the M23 and withdraw from DRC territory” and on M23 to “cease all hostile actions and withdraw from occupied areas.”
This followed the death of 13 soldiers serving with peacekeeping forces in clashes with the rebels.
Both DR Congo and the UN say M23 is backed by Rwanda. Rwanda has not denied this but blames DR Congo for the conflict.
At a Security Council meeting, Rwanda’s UN representative, Ernest Rwamucyo, regretted that the international community condemned M23 rather than the Congolese army, which, he said, had violated a ceasefire.
On Saturday, the UN announced it would pull all non-essential staff out of Goma.
M23 was formed in 2012 as an offshoot of another rebel group to protect the Tutsi population in eastern DR Congo, which had long complained of persecution and discrimination.
Rwanda previously said the Congolese authorities were working with those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide, who fled to DR Congo.
Rwanda’s critics accuse it of using M23 to loot minerals such as gold, cobalt, and tantalum in eastern DR Congo.
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