Rwandan-backed M23 fighters close in on city of Goma

27/1/2025 6:07

T he United States, France and Britain pressured Rwanda on Sunday

over its support for rebels rapidly closing in on eastern

Congo's largest city, as government forces struggled to halt an

offensive that has forced thousands of civilians to flee.



With fighters from the M23 rebel movement appearing poised

to enter the city of Goma, the U.N. Security Council met a day

early on Sunday to discuss the fighting, in which three U.N.

peacekeepers have been killed in the last two days.



The rebels have advanced swiftly this month in the

Democratic Republic of Congo's mineral-rich but conflict-riven

eastern borderlands, raising fears that the fighting could spill

over into a regional war.



Rwanda denies accusations by the U.N. and others that it

backs M23.



"M23 attacks on peacekeepers with support from the RDF must

stop immediately," James Kariuki, Britain's deputy permanent

representative to the U.N., told the council meeting, using the

acronym for Rwanda's army.



In addition to the three U.N. peacekeepers - two South

Africans and a Uruguayan - seven more South African soldiers and

three from Malawi serving in a separate Southern African mission

were also killed this week, South African and U.N. authorities

said.



Condemning "Rwanda's and M23's hostilities on Goma", acting

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Shea called for a ceasefire.



"The United States will consider all the tools at its

disposal in order to hold accountable those responsible for

sustaining armed conflict, instability and insecurity," she

said.



France's U.N. ambassador called for Rwanda to withdraw its

troops from Congolese territory.



Rwanda regrets the deteriorating situation in eastern Congo,

its U.N. Ambassador Ernest Rwamucyo told the council, adding

that "the current crisis could have been averted had (Congo's)

government demonstrated a genuine commitment to peace".



Three years into their insurgency, the M23 rebels now

control more Congolese territory than ever before and have vowed

to seize Goma, the capital of North Kivu province and home to

about 1 million people.



Gunfire and artillery fire erupted on the city's outskirts

early on Sunday, residents said.



By mid-afternoon, the rebels were approaching Goma's

airport, two government soldiers said. However, a Congolese

government spokesperson told state television the army was

containing the attacks.



As night fell, electricity in the city went out, several

people living in Goma said.







HUMANITARIAN CRISIS FEARS



Addressing the Security Council via video link, the head of

the U.N. mission in Congo Bintou Keita said M23 and Rwandan

forces had penetrated the outer edges of the city.



"Roads are blocked and the airport can no longer be used for

evacuation or humanitarian efforts. M23 has declared the

airspace over Goma closed," she said.



"In other words, we are trapped."



Eastern Congo remains a tinder-box of rebel zones and

militia fiefdoms in the wake of two successive regional wars

stemming from Rwanda's 1994 genocide.



Well-trained and professionally armed, M23 - the latest in a

long line of Tutsi-led rebel movements - says it exists to

protect Congo's ethnic Tutsi population.



Congo's government, however, says the rebels are proxies for

Kigali's expansionist ambitions in the region, an accusation the

Rwandan government has long denied.



Congo severed all diplomatic ties with Rwanda amid this

week's rebel offensive.



Congo's army said on Saturday Rwandan snipers were

responsible for the killing of North Kivu's military governor on

the front line a day earlier.



A spokesperson for Rwanda's government did not respond to a

request for comment.



Aid agencies are concerned about the conflict's impact on

civilians, warning that the fighting will deepen what is already

one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.



Civilians have fled multiple zones of fighting since the

latest M23 offensive began around Goma on Jan. 23, the office of

the U.N. humanitarian coordinator said in a statement.



"Several sites on the outskirts of Goma, sheltering more

than 300,000 displaced people, were completely emptied in the

space of a few hours," the statement said.



The escalation in violence has forced the World Food

Programme to temporarily pause emergency operations, the agency

said on Sunday.