Over the weekend, the Rwanda-backed rebel group has rapidly approached the provincial capital Goma, which is described as the government’s last attachment in the country’s eastern regions bordering Rwanda.
On Sunday, Congolese authorities have blocked the road to the city airport and on the outskirts of Goma, which has about two million inhabitants, heard gunfire and explosions, Reuters reports. The fear of war has reached the boiling point.
– There is panic here, electricity and water are missing. We are surrounded and cannot leave the city. Strides are going on both north and south of Goma, says a person in Goma, who wants to be anonymous, to SVT News.
Previously summoned meeting in the UN
On Sunday, the UN Security Council meets the situation in Congo-Kinshasa, a day earlier than expected due to developments in the country.
Since Friday, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a number of other countries advise against the region and at the same time, more and more players are peeling down their operations and calls home staff.
Goma also houses much of the international aid organizations and peacekeeping efforts that are in Congo-Kinshasa.
Breaks diplomatic relationships
During January, the rebel group M23 escalated its disputes and has taken several cities and towns in northern and southern Kivuprovinsen in eastern Congo-Kinshasa.
The progress has led to over 400,000 people being forced to flee from their homes only since the turn of the year, according to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR.
Earlier this week, UN Secretary -General António Guterres warned that the conflict is at risk of spreading and leading to a regional war.
Neighboring Rwanda is accused by both the UN and the United States of supporting M23, which is one of several armed groups chasing control over Congo-Kinshas’s huge natural resources of metals and minerals.
Last year, the UN Security Council revealed that between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwandan soldiers have also participated in the upset guerrilla group’s rebellion.
Rwanda President Paul Kagame has repeatedly denied sometimes and that the country would have its own troops inside eastern Congo. This weekend, however, Congo responded by immediately breaking all diplomatic relations with the neighboring country.