Gunfire rang out across parts of Goma, the largest city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), hours after Rwanda-backed M23 rebels said they had seized it despite the United Nations Security Council calling for an end to the offensive.
The news comes as reports emerged that DRC and Rwandan troops have also exchanged fire on Monday along their shared border, risking a rapid escalation of the conflict amid the advance of the M23 fighters.
In a statement posted on X, DRC government’s spokesman Patrick Muyaya confirmed the presence of Rwandan army in Goma.
“The government continues to work to avoid carnage and loss of human life in view of the manifest intentions of Rwanda,” he said, telling residents to stay home and refrain from carrying out vandalism and looting.
Earlier on Monday, M23 announced the capture of Goma, which the DRC government described was a “declaration of war” by Rwanda. The UN said the capture has caused “mass panic” among Goma’s two million residents.
The M23 claim came minutes before a 48-hour deadline it had given to Congolese troops to surrender their weapons expired. Its fighters also urged Goma residents to remain calm and for members of the DRC military to assemble at the central stadium.
Two witnesses told the Reuters news agency rebels had entered the centre of Goma. One of them shared a brief video showing heavily armed men walking through the streets, the agency reported.
The advance by the M23 rebel alliance has forced thousands in DRC’s mineral-rich east from their homes and triggered fears that a decades-old simmering conflict risks reigniting a broader regional war.
M23 fighters have been locked in a conflict with the Congolese army and UN peacekeepers on Goma’s outskirts for several days.
The battle for the key city is the latest chapter of fighting in the eastern DRC, a volatile area that has struggled with regional rivalries, ethnic disputes and armed militia conflicts for more than three decades, triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Source: AJ
