UN chief calls for Rwandan forces to leave DRC as rebels press offensive

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and stop supporting M23 fighters attacking Goma, the nation’s eastern city, have been ordered by UN chief Antonio Guterres to withdraw from Rwandan forces.

According to his spokesman Stephane Dujarric, Guterres “reaffirms his strongest condemnation of the M23 armed group’s ongoing offensive and advances toward Goma in North Kivu with the support of the Rwanda Defense Forces.”

He urges the M23 to halt all hostilities and leave occupied areas right away. &nbsp, He further calls on the Rwanda Defence Forces to cease support to the M23 and withdraw from DRC territory”, the statement said.

The DRC and the UN accuse Rwanda of backing the M23 (March 23 Movement) rebels, an accusation that Kigali denies.

The DRC alleged that Rwanda’s forces had entered its territory during a “declaration of war” at a later UN Security Council meeting on Sunday, and that it had demanded sanctions against Rwanda.

More than 900 Rwandan troops entered our country in broad daylight in a deliberate violation of our national sovereignty, according to Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, who has crossed the 12th and 13th posts between Goma (in the DRC) and Gisenyi (in Rwanda).

She referred to this as a “frontal assault,” “a declaration of war that no longer hides behind diplomatic artifice,” and called for the Security Council to “impose targeted sanctions including asset freezes and travel bans” against political decision-makers responsible for this aggression as well as against identified members of the Rwandan armed forces’ chain of command.

Rwanda was also put under pressure by France and the UK over its involvement in recent fighting in the eastern DRC city of Goma.

The UK demanded an end to M23 rebel attacks on peacekeepers while the UN ambassador for Rwanda demanded that it withdraw its troops from DRC territory.

Following the fatal shooting of three UN peacekeepers from Uruguay and South Africa in the eastern DRC, the meeting took place one day earlier than planned.

According to South African and UN officials, three Malawian soldiers and seven additional South African soldiers were killed this week.

Rebels approaching Goma

As government forces battled to stop the rebels from seizing the city, M23 fighters swooped on Goma on Sunday, causing thousands of civilians to flee and ground flights from the neighborhood airport.

The M23 rebel movement has made rapid advances this month in DRC’s mineral-rich but conflict-riven eastern borderlands, raising fears that the fighting could spill over into a regional war.

More than one million people live in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, and M23 fighters have already made plans to seize the city.

Residents told the Reuters news agency that gunfire and artillery fire could be heard early on Sunday in some areas of the city, causing panic in some areas.

By mid-afternoon, the rebels were approaching Goma’s airport, two government soldiers told the agency.

Flights were no longer operating, according to airport officials. On Sunday, the UN advised Goma’s staff to avoid going to the airport and remain sheltered.

In response to the rebel offensive this week, the DRC cut diplomatic ties with Rwanda.

In the wake of two regional wars that came after Rwanda’s genocide in 1994, Eastern Congo is still a tinderbox of rebel-zones and fighters’ fiefdoms.

The rebels now have greater control over Congolese territory than they did before, three years into the current conflict.

Well-trained and professionally armed, M23 – the latest in a long line of Tutsi-led rebel movements – says it exists to protect DRC’s ethnic Tutsi population.