GOMA: The besieged Congolese city of Goma was rocked by heavy artillery fire on Monday as France warned the regional capital was on the brink of falling to militia fighters and Rwandan troops.
The M23 armed group and Rwandan soldiers entered Goma’s centre on Sunday night after weeks of advancing on the main city in DR Congo‘s mineral-rich North Kivu province.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the Rwanda-backed offensive “must stop”, expressing his country’s solidarity with the Democratic Republic of Congo “as Goma prepares to fall”.
With international pressure mounting for an end to the battle for Goma, Kenya announced on Sunday that Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame had agreed to attend a summit in the next two days.
M23 fighters and 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan soldiers had been laying siege to Goma for several days, according to the United Nations and security sources.
The Congolese armed forces appear to have been overwhelmed by the offensive, and Uruguay’s army said in a statement that some units had begun to surrender by handing over their weapons to UN peacekeepers in Goma.
Large explosions and gunfire were heard in central Goma on Monday morning, AFP correspondents said.
As chaos descended on the city, there was a mass prison break from a torched prison which resulted in “deaths”, a security source told AFP, without giving further details.
The border between Rwanda and DRC near the Goma was also closed on Monday, a European consulate source and an aid worker at the crossing said.
Rwandan state media had earlier said buses were ready to evacuate UN staff and their families from Goma over the border.
‘Declaration of war’
The battle for Goma is the latest chapter of fighting in eastern DRC, a volatile area that has struggled with regional rivalries, ethnic disputes and armed militia conflicts for more than three decades.
At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday in response to the crisis, DRC called for the United Nations to impose sanctions on its neighbour for helping the M23.
“This is a frontal assault, a declaration of war that no longer hides behind diplomatic artifice,” said Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner.
The UN Security Council issued a statement late Sunday calling for the withdrawal of aggressive “external forces”, but stopped short of explicitly naming them.
Between 500 and 1,000 Rwandan soldiers arrived on Sunday to reinforce the M23 near Goma, UN sources told AFP.
Thirteen foreign peacekeepers have been killed in the escalating clashes, and UN chief Antonio Guterres on Sunday called on Kigali to pull its armed forces out of the country.
Rwanda has rejected calls for a withdrawal.
“This fighting close to the Rwandan border continues to present a serious threat to Rwanda’s security and territorial integrity, and necessitates Rwanda’s sustained defensive posture,” Rwanda’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Later Sunday, Kenyan President William Ruto announced a summit of the East African Community regional bloc with the leaders of Rwanda and the DRC for talks over the crisis.
Diplomats withdrawn
Both the DRC and Rwanda have withdrawn their diplomats from each other’s capitals in a breakdown of relations.
After peace talks between Kagame and Tshisekedi were cancelled in mid-December, the M23 quickly advanced towards Goma.
The strategic city is home to more than a million residents and nearly as many displaced people.
As the fighting drew closer, new columns of displaced people arrived in the city.
A UN experts’ report said Kigali was using the M23 to secure access to the DRC’s mineral wealth, exporting it abroad for its own gain.
Kinshasa’s Kayikwamba called on the Security Council to impose a “total embargo on the export of all minerals labelled as Rwandan, in particular gold”.
Rwanda’s ambassador to the UN, Ernest Rwamucyo, rejected DRC’s accusations, blaming Kinshasa for the deteriorating situation.
Goma was briefly occupied at the end of 2012 by the M23, or March 23 Movement, but the group withdrew after a deal.
It was militarily defeated by DRC forces and the UN in 2013 but regrouped several years later.
Half a dozen ceasefires and truces have already been declared and broken in the region. The last ceasefire was signed at the end of July.
The United States, France, the UK and Germany have called on their citizens to leave Goma.
