Rebels fighting near Goma in eastern Congo
Terror spread in Goma on Thursday, as M23 rebels battled the Congolese army and were closing in on the city in eastern Congo. Bombings were heard in distant suburbs, and hundreds of wounded civilians rushed to the main hospital from nearby towns and villages.
The rebel group has been making significant advances in recent weeks in Goma, home to nearly two million people and a regional hub for security and humanitarian aid.
M23 is one of about 100 militant groups fighting to take control of mineral-rich eastern Congo on the Rwandan border, in a decade-long war and the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
More than seven million people have been displaced by the conflict. Earlier this month, the M23 captured the towns of Minova, Katale and Masisi west of Goma.
“The people of Goma have suffered as much as the rest of the Congo,” Lawrence Kanuka, a spokesman for M23, told X. “M23 is going to liberate them, and they must be prepared to accept this freedom.”
M23 took control of Goma in 2012 and controlled it for more than a week.
Schools in Goma sent students home on Thursday morning after hearing the news of the fighting.
“We were told that the enemy wanted to enter the city, that’s why we were told to go home,” said 19-year-old high school student Hasan Kambal. “We are constantly waiting for bombs.”
Rwanda is accused of supporting rebels.
Congo, the United States and UN experts accuse Rwanda of supporting the M23, which is mainly made up of Tutsi who broke away from the Congolese army a decade ago.
The Rwandan government has denied the claim but last year admitted it had troops and missiles in eastern Congo to secure it, signaling a Congolese military build-up near the border. UN experts estimate there are up to 4,000 Rwandan forces in Congo.
On Wednesday, Congolese Communications Minister Patrick Muaya told French broadcaster France 24 that war with Rwanda was “an option worth considering”.
Congolese officials said on Thursday that the military had repelled an attack by the “Rwandan Army” in the town of Sake, 23 kilometers from Goma. The Associated Press could not confirm whether the Rwandan military was involved in the attack.
The situation in Sake is still unclear, with some residents saying the rebels have taken control of the town.
Leopold Muisha, the president of the Sake area civil society, said: “The people are terrified. The M23 now controls a large part of the city.”
The U.S. Embassy in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, warned in a statement Thursday that “the seriousness of the armed conflict near Sac is increasing” and advised U.S. citizens in North Kivu state, including Goma, to remain vigilant. Leave their home at short notice.
The UK has now taken control of the M23 and urged Britons to keep the roads open and get off their tyres.
The hospital was stretched to the limit
Many Sak residents have joined more than 178,000 people who have fled the M23 in the past two weeks.
The CBCA Ndosho Hospital in Goma was stretched to the limit, with hundreds of newly injured on Thursday.
On Wednesday, thousands fled the fighting by boat, pouring out of rubber-coated wooden boats across Lake Kivu, some with their belongings tied to the bows.
Nema Matondo said she ran away from Sak during the night when the first explosions started going off. She said she saw people around her being torn apart and killed.
“We escaped, but unfortunately” others did not, Matondo said.
Mariam Nasibu, who fled the Sikh with her three children, was in tears – one of her children lost her leg, fell by the incessant gunfire.
“As I continued to flee, another bomb fell in front of me and hit my son,” she said, crying.