Congo's M23 Rebels Consolidate Control Over a Devastated Goma

29/1/2025 18:17

The United States told Rwanda it was "deeply troubled" by the fall of Goma in eastern Congo to Rwandan-backed M23 rebels, who appeared on Wednesday to have consolidated control over the city of nearly 2 million in just two days.



Isolated bursts of gunfire sounded through some outlying districts of the lakeside city, where Monday's rebel storming left bodies lying in the streets, hospitals overwhelmed and U.N. peacekeepers sheltering in their bases.



The rebels seized the city's international airport on Tuesday, which could cut off the main route for aid to reach hundreds of thousands of displaced people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where conflict has raged on and off for decades.



Washington urged the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to consider unspecified measures to halt the offensive, and the African Union demanded the immediate withdrawal of the M23 from occupied areas.



In a post on X, Rwandan President Paul Kagame said he had agreed on the need for a ceasefire in a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio but gave no indication of bowing to demands for a withdrawal from Goma.