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Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo:
Rwanda supported rebels claimed on Monday that they had conquered Goma, the largest city in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the United Nations reported ‘massive panic’ among the two million inhabitants. The conquest of the city came after a 48-hour period had expired that was imposed by M23 rebels on the Congolese army to hand in their weapons.
The rebel alliance, led by the M23 militia led by Ethnic Tutsis, announced the coup in a statement and insisted on staying calm with the residents of Goma. In the meantime, the government in Congo said that the rise of the rebels was a ‘declaration of war’, according to a report from Associated Press.
What happens in Congo
M23 fighters and 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan soldiers had been besieging Goma for a few days, advanced in the heart of the mineral-rich region and threatened to dramatically worse one of Africa’s longest wars and to expel civilians further.
The Congolese armed forces seem to be overwhelmed by the offensive, and the Uruguayan army said in a statement that some units began to surrender by transferring their weapons to UN peace soldiers in Goma.
According to a report from AFP, large explosions and gunfire were heard on Monday morning in the center of Goma. While the chaos descended over the city, there was also a massive escape from a prison set on fire, which was said to have led to “killing”.
Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance to which the M23 belongs, told Reuters on Monday that his troops had control over Goma and that armies soldiers were resigning.
In the meantime, the Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya placed a video on X, in which he called for the protection of citizens and said that the country is “in a war situation in which the news is changing.”
On Sunday, the UN Security Council held crisis discussions with the United States, France and Great Britain, in which they condemned the support of Rwanda to the advance of the rebels.
But Rwanda rejected statements that “did not offer any solution” and accused the Congolese government of sabotaging with the M23 and supporting Hutu milit members who were related to the 1994 genocide.
Kinshasa rejects these allegations. Congolese Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner called on the Security Council to impose a total embargo on the export of all minerals with the Rwandese label, in particular gold “.
In the meantime, the UN employees and their families were evacuated on Monday to Rwanda, where ten buses were waiting to pick them up. The border between Rwanda and the DRC near Goma remained closed on Monday, after the United States, France, Great Britain and Germany called on their civilians to leave the city.
DRC conflict
The eastern border area of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a tender box of rebellion and militia lon goods that arise from two regional wars after the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, when Hutu extremists killed nearly a million Tutsis and moderate Hutu’s.
The M23 (or 23 March movement), the last in a long series of rebel movements supported by Tutsi by Rwanda, conquered Goma in 2012, but withdrew days later after an agreement established by neighboring countries.
Congo has more than 100 armed groups, mainly in the east of the Central African nation with 100 million inhabitants, which is about as large as Western Europe and who has abundant mineral stocks in the visor of Chinese and Western companies.
According to a report from the United Nations, more than a third of the population of the province of North Kivu, where Goma is located, is currently displaced.
About m23 rebels
The fall of Goma in 2012 led to the use of a new, offensive-oriented UN forces, a revision of the Congolese army and diplomatic pressure on Rwanda, which led to the defeat of the M23 the following year and an agreement in which was called to demobilization.
But the group never fully disarmed and launched a new offensive in 2022 in which it conquered large parts of the mineral-rich province of North Kivu, including lucrative mines that Coltan produces that is used in smartphones.
M23 is well trained and professionally armed and says it exists to protect the Congolese Tutsi population against the Congolese government and ethnic Hutu militions. UN experts say that Rwanda has used 3,000 to 4,000 troops and has supplied considerable firepower, including rockets and snipers, to support the M23.
According to the UN, the rise of the rebels since the start of the year has driven hundreds of thousands of people out of their homes, on top of the three million displaced persons in Eastern Congo in 2024.