Rebels say they have taken control of the key eastern city of Goma
Hello and welcome to the Democratic Republic of Congo live blog, where we will be bringing you all the latest from a developing situation.
Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have captured eastern DR Congo’s largest city, Goma, as the United Nations reported “mass panic” with the government dubbing the insurgency a “declaration of war”, AP reported.
The city’s capture came following a 48-hour deadline imposed by the group for the Congolese army to surrender their weapons. The M23 rebel movement announced the coup d’etat in a statement.
In the statement, the rebels urged residents of Goma to remain calm. There was no immediate comment from the government of the DR Congo.
Hours earlier, the UN’s special representative for Congo told an emergency meeting of the UN security council that with the airport shut down and roads blocked in the vast region’s humanitarian and security hub, “we are trapped.”
The M23 rebels’ offensive at the heart of the mineral-rich region threatens to dramatically worsen one of Africa’s longest wars and create further misery for what is already one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with millions of people displaced.
Key events
Residents of Goma responded to the arrival of M23 rebels with trepidation on Monday, with some staying off the streets and others putting on what one called a “show” of happiness.
The group moved into the city on Sunday, meeting little resistance from the DRC’s national army.
In one video posted on social media, residents could be seen applauding heavily-armed fighters in green fatigues and chanting: “Welcome, welcome our friends”.
Four residents who spoke to the Reuters news agency, and who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, said the seemingly-warm response was born of self-preservation.
“We try to be kind because there is fear,” said one. “Since they are criminals, we can’t predict their behaviour.
“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.”
M23 previously occupied Goma, for 10 days in late 2012, when fighting between rebel and government forces displaced thousands of people.
The day so far
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Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have captured eastern DR Congo’s largest city, Goma, as the United Nations reported “mass panic” with the government dubbing the insurgency a “declaration of war”, AP reported. The city’s capture came following a 48-hour deadline imposed by the group for the Congolese army to surrender their weapons. The M23 rebel movement announced the coup d’etat in a statement.
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In the statement, the rebels urged residents of Goma to remain calm. There was no immediate comment from the government of the DR Congo. Hours earlier, the UN’s special representative for Congo told an emergency meeting of the UN security council that with the airport shut down and roads blocked in the vast region’s humanitarian and security hub, “we are trapped.”
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Democratic Republic of Congo’s government confirmed on Monday that the Rwandan army was present in the eastern city of Goma, where Rwandan-backed rebels have launched an offensive. In a post on X, spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said the DRC forces were working to prevent “carnage and loss of human life”, and he also called on Goma residents to stay at home and not engage in acts of vandalism.
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UN staff and their families were evacuating to Rwanda on Monday morning, where 10 buses were waiting to pick them up. Unverified videos shared on social media showed local residents looting merchandise outside the airport customs warehouse and columns of heavily armed men, believed to be M23 fighters, walking through the northern suburbs of the city.
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Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance that includes the M23, has told Reuters that his forces were in control of Goma and that army soldiers were laying down arms. “They have started to surrender, but it takes time,” he said. “It’s normal that they [residents] still see soldiers.” However, Tryphon Kin-Kiey Mulumba, chair of the Air Transport Authority, said the army still held the airport.
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Troops from Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have been firing at each other across their shared border in the eastern Congolese city of Goma, where Rwandan-backed rebels launched an offensive, two United Nations sources said on Monday.
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The UN security council on Sunday demanded that M23 rebel forces stop an ongoing offensive and advance towards Goma, the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and that “external forces” in the region immediately withdraw. The council demands came just hours after Rwandan-backed M23 said they had taken Goma following a lightning advance that has forced thousands of people to flee and fuelled concerns of a regional war.
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Thousands of inmates broke free from the main prison in Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern city of Goma early on Monday in the midst of a rebel offensive in the city, a prison agent and a resident said.
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France expressed its solidarity regarding the Democratic Republic of Congo and condemned actions by Rwanda in the country, French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Monday. Barrot was speaking as he arrived at the Council of European Foreign Ministers in Brussels.
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UN peacekeepers have begun to process members of the military who had begun to surrender on the outskirts of the city, AP reported. Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya made a statement in a video posted on X calling for the protection of civilians and saying that the country is “in a war situation where the news is changing.”
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The Uruguayan army, who are in Goma serving with the UN peacekeeping mission, said in a statement on X late on Sunday that some Congolese soldiers have laid down their weapons. “More than a hundred FARDC soldiers are sheltered in the facilities of the “Siempre Presente” base awaiting the (Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration) process,” the statement said.
Here is a map of DR Congo, highlighting the eastern city of Goma and the surrounding refugee camps:
Thousands of inmates broke free from the main prison in Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern city of Goma early on Monday in the midst of a rebel offensive in the city, a prison agent and a resident said.
Democratic Republic of Congo’s government confirmed on Monday that the Rwandan army was present in the eastern city of Goma, where Rwandan-backed rebels have launched an offensive.
In a post on X, spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said the DRC forces were working to prevent “carnage and loss of human life”, and he also called on Goma residents to stay at home and not engage in acts of vandalism.
Carlos Mureithi
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.
“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,” the M23 spokesperson, Lawrence Kanyuka, said on X.
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, city centre and near the border with Rwanda.
The rebels had ordered government soldiers to surrender by 3am on Monday (0100 GMT) and 100 Congolese soldiers had handed their weapons over 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.
UN staff and their families were evacuating to Rwanda on Monday morning, where 10 buses were waiting to pick them up.
Unverified videos shared on social media showed local residents looting merchandise outside the airport customs warehouse and columns of heavily armed men, believed to be M23 fighters, walking through the northern suburbs of the city.
Twenty-six Congolese soldiers and one police officer had crossed the border and surrendered, Rwandan soldiers told Reuters.
Thousands of residents of the Rwandan border town of Gisenyi fled eastward, toward the capital Kigali, as the sound of explosions from Goma grew louder, a Reuters reporter said.
Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance that includes the M23, has told Reuters that his forces were in control of Goma and that army soldiers were laying down arms.
“They have started to surrender, but it takes time,” he said. “It’s normal that they [residents] still see soldiers.”
However, Tryphon Kin-Kiey Mulumba, chair of the Air Transport Authority, said the army still held the airport.
Uruguay’s military said 100 Congolese soldiers had handed weapons over to them at the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo (Monusco) as requested by the rebels.
Troops from Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have been firing at each other across their shared border in the eastern Congolese city of Goma, where Rwandan-backed rebels launched an offensive, two United Nations sources said on Monday.
Here are some images from Goma as people start to flee the city …
France condemns Rwanda’s action in Democratic Republic of Congo
France expressed its solidarity regarding the Democratic Republic of Congo and condemned actions by Rwanda in the country, French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Monday.
Barrot was speaking as he arrived at the Council of European Foreign Ministers in Brussels.
“France strongly condemns the offensive led by the M23, backed by the Rwandan armed forces, which has led to the death of six peacekeepers and the displacement of several thousands people. Fighting must stop and dialogue resume,” Barrot said
Congolese M23 rebels have entered the centre of the eastern city of Goma, two witnesses told Reuters on Monday.
One of the witnesses shared a brief video showing heavily armed men walking through the streets.
“There is confusion in the city; here near the airport, we see soldiers. I have not seen the M23 yet,” one resident told Reuters. “There are also some cases of looting of stores.”
Residents said gunfire could be heard near the airport, city centre and near the border with Rwanda.
The rebel’s recent advance has forced thousands in DR Congo’s mineral-rich east from their homes and triggered fears that a decades-old simmering conflict risks reigniting a broader regional war.
UN security council demands M23 stop offensive
The UN security council on Sunday demanded that M23 rebel forces stop an ongoing offensive and advance towards Goma, the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and that “external forces” in the region immediately withdraw.
The council demands came just hours after Rwandan-backed M23 said they had taken Goma following a lightning advance that has forced thousands of people to flee and fuelled concerns of a regional war. Reuters could not independently determine whether the city was fully under rebel control.
The 15-member UN security council met earlier on Sunday to discuss the crisis and then quickly agreed on a lengthy statement.
The council urged Rwanda and the DRC to return to talks to achieve peace and address issues related to the presence of Rwanda Defence Forces in the eastern Congo and Congolese support for the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
M23 vows to defend Tutsi interests, particularly against ethnic Hutu militias such as the FDLR, which was founded by Hutus who fled Rwanda after participating in the 1994 genocide of more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
At the council meeting on Sunday, the United States, France and Britain condemned what they said was Rwanda’s backing of the M23 rebel advance. Kigali has long denied supporting M23.
In its statement, the Security Council “condemned the ongoing flagrant disregard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC, including the unauthorised presence in the eastern DRC of external forces”.
It did not explicitly name the external forces but demanded that they “withdraw immediately.”
The Uruguayan army, who are in Goma serving with the UN peacekeeping mission, said in a statement on X late on Sunday that some Congolese soldiers have laid down their weapons.
“More than a hundred FARDC soldiers are sheltered in the facilities of the “Siempre Presente” base awaiting the (Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration) process,” the statement said.
In photos shared with the statement, armed men are seen registering with the peacekeepers in a mix of military uniforms and civilian clothing.
UN peacekeepers have begun to process members of the military who had begun to surrender on the outskirts of the city, AP reported.
Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya made a statement in a video posted on X calling for the protection of civilians and saying that the country is “in a war situation where the news is changing.”
Late Sunday, the UN’s special representative for Congo told an emergency meeting of the UN security council that with the airport shut down and roads blocked in the vast region’s humanitarian and security hub, “we are trapped”.
Congo late Saturday broke off relations with Rwanda, which has denied backing the M23 despite evidence collected by UN experts and others. The surge of violence has killed at least 13 peacekeepers over the past week.
Rebels say they have taken control of the key eastern city of Goma
Hello and welcome to the Democratic Republic of Congo live blog, where we will be bringing you all the latest from a developing situation.
Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have captured eastern DR Congo’s largest city, Goma, as the United Nations reported “mass panic” with the government dubbing the insurgency a “declaration of war”, AP reported.
The city’s capture came following a 48-hour deadline imposed by the group for the Congolese army to surrender their weapons. The M23 rebel movement announced the coup d’etat in a statement.
In the statement, the rebels urged residents of Goma to remain calm. There was no immediate comment from the government of the DR Congo.
Hours earlier, the UN’s special representative for Congo told an emergency meeting of the UN security council that with the airport shut down and roads blocked in the vast region’s humanitarian and security hub, “we are trapped.”
The M23 rebels’ offensive at the heart of the mineral-rich region threatens to dramatically worsen one of Africa’s longest wars and create further misery for what is already one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with millions of people displaced.
