Rebels of the M23 movement say they have taken control of the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Residents shared videos of M23 rebels patrolling Goma’s main streets following a lightning advance against the Congolese army on Sunday that saw tens of thousands of people fleeing neighboring towns.
After hours of gunfire and explosions in the streets of Goma – home to more than a million people – are now quiet, according to local media reports.
It comes hours after DR Congo’s foreign minister accused Rwanda of declaring war by sending its troops over the border to support the M23 rebels. Rwanda says Kinshasa supports militias who want regime change in Kigali.
Kenya has called for a ceasefire, and announced that the presidents of both the DR Congo and Rwanda will attend an emergency regional summit in the next two days.
Kenyan President William Ruto, the current chair of the the East African Community, said it was incumbent on regional leaders to help facilitate a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Since the start of 2025 more than 400,000 people have been displaced in north and South Kivu, provinces near the border with Rwanda, according to the UN’s refugee agency.
One displaced woman, Alice Feza, said she is at a loss of what to do next, as she has fled from Kiwanja, Rutshuru, Kibumba and now, Goma.
“People are fleeing everywhere, and we don’t know where to go anymore, because we started fleeing a long time ago,” Ms Feza said, adding: “The war catches us here among the host families, now we have nowhere to go.”
Key roads surrounding Goma are blocked and the city’s airport can no longer be used for evacuation and humanitarian efforts, the UN has said.
UN Secretary General António Guterres has called on Rwanda to withdraw its forces from the DR Congo’s territory and on the M23 rebel group to stop its advance.
Guterres, in a statement through his spokesman, called on Rwanda to “cease support to the M23 and withdraw from DRC territory”. He also called on the M23 to “immediately cease all hostile actions and withdraw from occupied areas”.
This comes after 13 soldiers serving with peacekeeping forces were killed in clashes with the rebels.
The UK has called for an end to attacks on peacekeepers, while France’s UN representative, Nicolas de Rivière, reiterated Guterres’ call for Rwanda to withdraw its troops from the DR Congo.
Both DR Congo and the UN say the M23 group is backed by Rwanda.
Rwanda has not denied this, but the country’s leaders put the blame on the DR Congo for the current conflict.
Speaking at the Security Council meeting, Rwanda’s UN representative Ernest Rwamucyo said he regretted that the international community choose to condemn the M23 group rather than the Congolese army, which, he said, had violated a ceasefire.
On Saturday, the UN said it would be pulling all of its non-essential staff out of Goma. Essential operations are ongoing in the DR Congo.
The M23 formed as an offshoot of another rebel group in 2012, ostensibly to protect the Tutsi population in the east of DR Congo, which had long complained of persecution and discrimination.
Rwanda has previously said the Congolese authorities were working with some of those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide against ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
However, Rwanda’s critics accuse it of using the M23 to loot minerals such as gold, cobalt and tantalum in eastern DR Congo.
By BBC
