Fighting rages this Monday, January 27, in Goma, on the border with Rwanda in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), between Congolese forces and fighters of the M23 armed group and Rwandan soldiers who entered the day before, while Kigali deplores at least five civilians killed on its territory.
In the city center of Goma, sustained artillery detonations and intense bursts of small arms have echoed since the morning, AFP journalists noted. It is difficult to determine which parts of the city have fallen to the M23 and Rwandan soldiers, and which remain controlled by Kinshasa. “Goma is about to fall,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot lamented in Brussels this morning, strongly condemning this military offensive.
M23 (“March 23 Movement”) fighters and more than 3,500 Rwandan soldiers, according to the UN, entered Goma on Sunday, which they had been besieging for several days, according to several UN and security sources.
An ultimatum issued to Congolese soldiers
Gusts resonated in the city in the evening, then some sporadic shots during the night, according to AFP journalists. “The government continues to work to avoid carnage and loss of life,” its spokesperson Patrick Muyaya declared Monday at midday on X, the first official Congolese reaction since the entry into the city of the M23 and of its allies, without further details on the state of loyalist forces in the city.
The M23 had mentioned on Sunday evening “this glorious day of the liberation of the city of Goma”, capital of the province of North Kivu, which shelters a million inhabitants for as many displaced people and towards which it had been advancing for several weeks. The M23 also issued an ultimatum to Congolese soldiers to surrender their weapons.
Border shooting
Kinshasa accused Rwanda on Sunday of having “declared war” by sending new troops to the DRC this weekend, between 500 and 1,000 men according to UN sources at AFP, while the UN called on Kigali to withdraw its forces from the region. Rwanda responded that it maintained a “sustainable defensive posture” in view of the fighting representing “a serious threat to Rwanda’s security”.
Early Monday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Rwandan army announced that 5 civilians were killed, 25 people seriously injured and others more lightly Monday in a Rwandan town bordering Goma, without further details. on the circumstances of these deaths and injuries. Several clashes were reported along the border on Monday. An AFP journalist in Gisenyi, on the Rwandan side of the border, heard “several explosions” which forced him to take refuge. A diplomatic source confirmed to AFP exchanges of fire in the morning between Congolese and Rwandan troops on either side of a border post in Goma.
The advance of the M23 towards Goma, coupled with a diplomatic escalation between the DRC and Rwanda, resulted in Nairobi convening a Tshisekedi-Kagame meeting within two days about this conflict which has been ongoing for more than three years. This summit will be held on Wednesday, Kenya announced on Monday. A DRC-Rwanda mediation under the aegis of Angola failed in December due to lack of agreement.
Bordering Rwanda, the east of the DRC has been shaken for more than 30 years by conflicts and tumultuous relations exacerbated since the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The DRC accuses Rwanda in particular of wanting to take control of its numerous natural riches, which Kigali denies.
Scenes of jubilation
In certain areas of the city, the M23 was welcomed by jubilant residents. The border with Rwanda is closed on Monday in Goma, a consular source told AFP. “No one is going in, no one is going out, apart from a few UN staff,” added a humanitarian worker at the main crossing point between the DRC and Rwanda. Goma was briefly occupied at the end of 2012 by the M23 (“March 23 Movement”), born that year and militarily defeated the following year.
The DRC demanded from the UN Security Council “targeted sanctions” against Rwandan military and political leaders and a “total embargo on exports of all minerals labeled as Rwandan”. The European Union called on the M23 to “stop its advance” and Rwanda to “withdraw immediately”. The African Union (AU) called for “strict observation of the ceasefire agreed between the parties” at the end of July.
Thirteen soldiers from the Southern African Regional Force (SAMIRDC) and MONUSCO have been killed in fighting in recent days, according to the armies of the countries involved. According to the UN, 400,000 people have been displaced by fighting since the beginning of January.