Rwanda-backed rebels have captured eastern Congo’s largest city, Goma, as the United Nations reported “mass panic” with the government dubbing the insurgency a “declaration of war.”
The group announced the city’s capture in a statement minutes before a 48-hour deadline expired that had been imposed by the group for the Congolese army to surrender their weapons.
In the early hours of Monday morning, gunfire could be heard throughout the city.
In a statement, the rebels urged residents of Goma to remain calm and for members of the Congolese military to assemble at the central stadium.
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There was no immediate comment from the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The three-year insurgency by M23 intensified in January with the rebels seizing control of more of the central African country’s territory than ever before, and the UN warning the violence could spill into a wider regional war.
Hours earlier, the UN’s special representative for Congo told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that with the airport shut down and roads blocked in the vast region’s humanitarian and security hub, “we are trapped.”
The M23 rebels’ offensive at the heart of the mineral-rich region threatens to dramatically worsen one of Africa’s longest wars and create further misery for what is already one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with millions of people displaced.
On Saturday, DR Congo broke off relations with Rwanda, which has denied backing the M23 despite evidence collected by UN experts and others.
The surge of violence has killed at least 13 peacekeepers over the past week, again placing the Congolese on the run once again.
The M23 has made significant territorial gains along Congo’s border with Rwanda in recent weeks, after months of regional attempts to make peace failed.
On Sunday night, the rebels called on Congo’s army to surrender their arms and present themselves at a local stadium by 3am or they would take the city.
The Uruguayan army, who are in Goma serving with the UN peacekeeping mission, said in a statement on X late on Sunday that some Congolese soldiers have laid down their weapons.
In photos shared with the statement, armed men are seen registering with the peacekeepers in a mix of military uniforms and civilian clothing.
UN special representative Bintou Keita told the Security Council that despite UN peacekeepers’ support for the Congolese armed forces, M23 and Rwandan forces entered the Munigi neighbourhood on Goma’s outskirts, “causing mass panic.”
Ms Keita said M23 fighters were advancing and using residents “as human shields” as others fled for their lives. “M23 has declared the airspace over Goma closed,” she said. “In other words, we are trapped.”
She said the UN was temporarily relocating nonessential personnel from the city.
Congo’s foreign minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner told the Security Council that Rwanda was committing “a frontal aggression, a declaration of war which no longer hides itself behind diplomatic manoeuvres.”
Rwanda’s ambassador to the UN Ernest Rwamucyo did not confirm or deny the claims.
He blamed Congo’s government, saying the crisis could have been averted if it had “demonstrated a genuine commitment to peace.”
The United States and France called for a ceasefire and appealed to Rwanda to withdraw its support to M23, with acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea warning that the US would “consider all the tools at its disposal” to hold accountable those responsible for sustaining the armed conflict.
M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich eastern DR of Congo, along the border with Rwanda, in a decades-long conflict that has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.
More than seven million people have been displaced by the fighting.
M23 seized Goma in 2012 and controlled it for over a week. - AP
