Fighters from the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group claim to have taken the eastern city of Goma after a lightning advance in recent weeks that has forced thousands from their homes and risked reigniting a broader regional war.
The M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said on X: “We urge all residents of Goma to remain calm. The liberation of the city has been successfully carried out and the situation is under control.”
It was not clear on Monday morning how much of Goma, the capital of North Kivu state in eastern DRC, was controlled by the rebels but witnesses in the city said rebel fighters could be seen in the centre. Residents said gunfire could be heard near the airport, the city centre and near the border with Rwanda.
Residents’ reaction to the arrival of the M23 rebels was mixed. Some stayed indoors while others came out to cheer.
Videos posted on social media showed people in some areas of Goma lining the streets to applaud and fist-bump heavily armed fighters wearing green fatigues and matching rubber boots. “Welcome, welcome our friends,” some people chanted.
Four people said the apparently warm welcome was born of self-preservation. “We try to be kind because there is fear. Since they are criminals, we can’t predict their behaviour,” one said. “The only thing we can do is show that we are happy.”
Another said: “We stay at home waiting to know the real situation because there is a lot of confusion for the moment.”
The rebels had ordered government soldiers to surrender by 3am on Monday (0100 GMT) and 100 Congolese soldiers handed over their weapons to Uruguayan troops in the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC, Monusco, Uruguay’s military said. Monusco staff and their families were evacuating across the border to Rwanda on Monday morning where 10 buses were waiting to pick them up.
The eastern borderlands of DRC are a tinderbox of rebel and militia fiefdoms stemming from two regional wars after Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, when Hutu extremists murdered close to 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus. M23 is the latest in a long line of Tutsi-led rebel movements.
On Sunday the UN special representative Bintou Keita told the UN security council that despite peacekeepers’ support for the Congolese armed forces, M23 and Rwandan forces had entered the Munigi neighbourhood on Goma’s outskirts, “causing mass panic”. Keita said M23 fighters were advancing and using residents as human shields as others fled for their lives.
DRC’s foreign minister, Thérèse 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 DRC’s claims. He blamed the country’s government, saying the crisis could have been averted if it had “demonstrated a genuine commitment to peace”.
Kenya’s president, William Ruto, who chairs the East African Community, of which Rwanda and the DRC are part, called for a cessation of hostilities on Sunday. He also urged DRC’s president, Félix Tshisekedi, and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, “to heed the call for peace from the people of our region and the international community”. He said the EAC would convene an extraordinary summit in the next 48 hours.
M23 says it exists to protect the ethnic Tutsi population in DRC. The rebels briefly took over Goma in 2012, withdrawing after international donors cut aid to Rwanda over its support for the group. They resurfaced in late 2021, with increasing support from Rwanda.
M23’s offensive risks worsening one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. More than one-third of the population of North Kivu state are displaced, according to the UN.
Rose Tchwenko, Mercy Corps’ country director for DRC, said: “Goma is more than a regional capital. It’s the lifeline of humanitarian operations across eastern DRC, and the scale of this renewed crisis threatens to overwhelm its capacity. After years of bearing the brunt of relentless conflict, Goma is now perilously close to breaking.”
In a briefing to reporters, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN under-secretary general for peace operations, said: “The situation on the ground remains volatile and dangerous. There have been significant advances by M23 and to a large extent a shift in the balance of forces. There is no question [that] Rwandan forces are present on the ground.”
He said the peacekeeping forces of Monusco needed to protect themselves and the many civilians seeking shelter in Monusco bases. “We need all hands on deck to support the diplomatic effort,” he said.
Lacroix denied that the recent withdrawal of Monusco forces from South Kibu had encouraged the M23 rebels.
Bruno Lemarquis, a deputy special representative in Monusco, said fighting in Goma was continuing and was “very dangerous”. “Many of our colleagues in Monusco are in underground bunkers,” he said, and some non-essential staff had been evacuated to the DRC capital, Kinshasa, or to a UN facility in Entebbe, Uganda.
Lemarquis said several shells had hit one of the major Goma hospitals, leaving the hospital overwhelmed. An additional 117 injured people had arrived at the hospital needing critical treatment.
He said water, electricity and internet access in Goma had been cut. There had been looting of a humanitarian facility, an attack on a UNHCR vehicle and a strike on a Save the Children facility.
Additional reporting by Patrick Wintour. The Associated Press and Reuters also contributed to this report
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