The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) army and M23 fighters clashed outside Goma on Friday as the UK, US and France urged citizens to leave the main city in the country’s volatile east, warning the situation could deteriorate rapidly.
Since peace talks failed, the militia group backed by Rwandan troops has gained swathes of territory in mineral-rich eastern DR Congo over the past few weeks, triggering a humanitarian crisis and ringing the provincial capital, which is home to a million people.
US, British and French nationals were urged to leave Goma while airports and borders were still open, in online statements or in messages sent directly by e-mail or text. With fighting intensifying, the UN mission in DRC, known as MONUSCO, on Friday said that its peacekeepers were fighting against the M23.
Photo: AP
MONUSCO’s Quick Reaction Forces have “been actively engaged in intense combat,” the UN said in a statement, adding that “over the past 48 hours MONUSCO heavy artillery fire carried out fire missions against M23 positions.”
It said the raging conflict in the North Kivu province had displaced more than 400,000 people this year and could spark a regional war.
The UN Security Council is to hold an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss the escalating crisis, a spokesperson said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “alarmed by the resumption of hostilities,” his spokesman said in a statement.
“The number of displacements is now over 400,000 people this year alone, almost double the number reported last week,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh, told a news briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday.
UNHCR is “gravely concerned about the safety and security of civilians and internally displaced people” in the east, Saltmarsh said.
“Heavy bombardments caused families from at least nine displacement sites on the periphery of Goma to flee into the city to seek safety and shelter,” he said, adding that many were living rough.
Military sources said clashes took place all day about 20km west of Goma, where cuts to mobile and Internet networks as well as electricity were frequent.
Witnesses said Congolese military helicopters headed Friday toward M23 positions around Sake — 25km northwest of Goma — with explosions heard in western districts of the town.
DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi was due to hold a defense council meeting yesterday, following a crisis meeting on Thursday.
The military governor of North Kivu, General Peter Cirimwami, died on Friday morning, military and UN sources said.
He had been shot on Thursday near the front line.
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