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What is happening in the Congo, where Rwanda backed the M23 rebels and captures Goma City?

What is happening in the Congo, where Rwanda backed the M23 rebels and captures Goma City?

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Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo:

Rwandan-backed rebels claimed Monday they captured Goma, the largest city in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the United Nations reported “mass panic” among its 2 million residents. The capture of the city came after a 48-hour deadline imposed by M23 rebels for the Congolese army to hand over its expired weapons.

The Rebel Alliance, led by the ethnic Tutsi-led M23 militia, announced the coup in a statement, urging Goma residents to remain calm. Meanwhile, the government in Congo said the rebel advance was a “declaration of war,” according to an Associated Press report.

What is happening in the Congo

M23 fighters and 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan troops had been laying siege to Goma for several days, advancing into the heart of the mineral-rich region and threatening to dramatically worsen one of Africa’s longest wars and further displace civilians.

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.

According to an AFP report, large explosions and gunshots were heard in central Goma on Monday morning. When chaos descended on the city, there was also a prison mass of a prison fire that reportedly resulted in “deaths.”

Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance that includes M23, told Reuters on Monday that his forces were in control of Goma and that army soldiers were laying down weapons.

Meanwhile, Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya posted a video about X, calling for the protection of civilians and saying the country is “in a war situation where the news is changing.”

On Sunday, the U.N. Security Council held crisis talks with the United States, France and Britain condemning what they said was Rwanda’s backing of the rebel advance.

But Rwanda dismissed claims that it “did not provide any solution” and accused the Congolese government of sabotaging negotiations with the M23 and supporting Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 genocide.

Kinshasa rejects these accusations. Congo’s Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner called on the Security Council to impose a “complete embargo on the export of all minerals labeled as Rwanda, in particular gold.”

Meanwhile, UN staff and their families were evacuated to Rwanda on Monday, where 10 buses were waiting to pick them up. The border between Rwanda and the DRC near Goma remained closed on Monday, as the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Germany asked their citizens to leave the city.

DRC conflict

The eastern borders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are a mare’s box of rebel fiefdoms and militias stemming from two regional wars following the Rwandan genocide in 1994 when Hutu extremists murdered nearly 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus. .

The M23 (or March 23 movement), the last in a long line of Tutsi-led rebel movements backed by Rwanda, captured Goma in 2012 but withdrew days later after a deal brokered by neighboring nations.

Congo has more than 100 armed groups, mainly in the east of the central African nation of 100 million people, which is about the size of Western Europe and has abundant mineral supplies in the sights of Chinese and Western companies.

According to a United Nations report, more than a third of the population of North Kivu province, where Goma is located, is currently displaced.

About M23 Rebels

The 2012 fall of Goma led to the deployment of a new offensive-minded UN force, an overhaul of the Congolese army and diplomatic pressure on Rwanda, leading to the defeat of the M23 the next year and an agreement calling for its demobilization .

But the group never fully disarmed and launched a new offensive in 2022 that has seen it capture vast swaths of the mineral-rich North Kivu province, including lucrative mines that produce Coltan, which is used in smartphones.

Well trained and professionally armed, M23 says it exists to protect Congo’s Tutsi population from the Congolese government and ethnic Hutu militias. Experts at the UN say Rwanda has deployed 3,000-4,000 troops and provided significant firepower, including missiles and snipers, to support the M23.

The rebel advance since the start of the year has forced hundreds of thousands from their homes, plus 3 million displaced in East Congo by 2024, according to the UN.


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