Democratic Republic of Congo | M23 at the gates of Goma, emergency meeting at the UN

(Goma) Intense fights at the gates of the big city of Goma are raging Sunday in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, between the Congolese army and the M23 anti -government group, which is supported by Rwanda and its army.

The UN Security Council holds an emergency meeting during the day after the intensification of the fighting, in which 13 foreign soldiers, including three peacekeepers have been killed, and which raises a regional conflagration.

After the failure of a DRC-Rwanda mediation under the aegis of Angola, the M23 and 3000 to 4000 Rwandan soldiers, according to the UN, have quickly gained ground in recent weeks. They now surround the capital of the North Kivu province, Goma, which has a million inhabitants and at least as many displaced.

In the center of the city, heavy detonations resonate since dawn and combat helicopters of the Congolese army are running in the sky.

Cars and motorcycles are still circulating, but most of the shops have closed. As fighting is similar, sometimes less than ten kilometers away, new columns of displaced people are flocking.

The day before, the army spokesman accused Rwanda of being “determined to seize the city of Goma”.

Rwanda “evacuated” its latest diplomat in Kinshasa on Friday, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe announced on Sunday. Kinshasa had announced on Saturday to recall his diplomats in Kigali “with immediate effect”.

Kinshasa announced recalling his diplomats in Kigali “with immediate effect” and called the Rwandan authorities to suspend all diplomatic and consular activities in the DRC.

The city had been briefly occupied at the end of 2012 by the M23 (“March 23 movement”), born that year and defeated militarily the following year.

In eastern DRC rich in natural resources, conflicts have been linked for over thirty years. Half a dozen ceasefies and Trier have already been decreed and then broken in the region. The last cease-fire was signed at the end of July.

Humanitarian crisis

The European Union called on the M23 to “stop its progress” and Rwanda to “withdraw immediately” in a declaration signed by the 27 member countries.

The African Union (AU) claimed “strict observation of the cease-fire agreed between the parties”.

During telephone interviews with Congolese leaders Félix Tshisekedi and Rwandan Paul Kagame, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Saturday at the “M23 offensive and Rwandan forces as well as the withdrawal of the latter from Congolese territory ».

The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, said Thursday “alarmed” by a renewed violence which could worsen “the risk of a regional war”.

Already 13 foreign soldiers, including three peacekeepers, were killed. The United Nations Mission in the DRC (Monusco), which has some 15,000 soldiers, announced on Friday to be “actively engaged in intense fights” against the M23 with one of its elite units.

A regional force of the Development Community of Southern Africa (SADC) has also been deployed in the region since the end of 2023 and notably has 2,900 South African soldiers.

The conflict, which has lasted for more than three years, has further aggravated a chronic humanitarian crisis in the region. According to the UN, 400,000 people have been moved by fighting since early January.

The United Nations began to evacuate some of their Goma staff. The United States, France and the United Kingdom, like Germany, called on their nationals to leave the city as long as the airport and the borders are open.

In December, a meeting between the Congolese and Rwandan presidents, as part of the Angola’s peace process, had been canceled for lack of agreement on the conditions of an agreement.