- Rwanda-backed M23 rebels tighten their grip on Goma, the biggest city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
- Kenya has announced a crisis summit for Wednesday, but it is still unknown if Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, will attend.
- In DRC’s capital Kinshasa, protesters denouncing international inaction have attacked various embassies, including those of Belgium, France, Kenya, South Africa, the United States and Uganda.
- The US has called for a ceasefire, while the United Nations has urged Rwanda to stop supporting M23.
- M23 claims it is consolidating control of GomaIn a post on X, Bertrand Bisimwa, the head of M23’s political wing, has said the group’s fighters are in the process of bringing “the last pockets of insecurity [in Goma] … under control”.“Our army is working hard to guarantee total security, complete tranquility and definitive peace as is the case for all their compatriots living in liberated zones,” Bisimwa said,His statement came as M23 rebels seemed to take more territory in the embattled city, including seizing the airport.The city was largely quiet on Wednesday morning, save for intermittent gunfire in outer districts, Reuters cited residents as saying.
- Residents recover items left in the street following an attack by M23 in Goma [EPA]
- Photos: People flee eastern DRC into Rwanda as fighting rages in Goma
- Congolese refugees carry their belongings as they arrive at the Rugerero transit camp in Gisenyi, Rwanda [Tony Karumba/AFP]
- Congolese refugees arrive at the Rugerero transit camp in Gisenyi [Vivien Latour/AFP]
- People who crossed from Congo disembark from a truck in Gisenyi [Yuhi Irakiza/AP Photo]
- Congolese boys at the Rugerero transit camp [Tony Karumba/AFP]
- Who are the M23 rebels?M23, or the March 23 Movement, is one of the hundreds of armed groups operating in the eastern DRC.The group is composed of Tutsi fighters and claims it is fighting for the rights of the DRC’s minority Tutsi population. It emerged in 2012 after a group from the armed forces of the DRC (FARDC) broke away, complaining of ill-treatment.In 2012, M23 first seized Goma, but the Congolese army, supported by the UN forces, pushed the rebels back into the eastern hills on the border with Rwanda in 2013.The DRC government and the UN accuse Rwanda, under Kagame, of supporting M23 with soldiers and weapons in a bid to control the mineral-rich eastern DRC.
- M23 soldiers in DRC [Teddy Mazina/Al Jazeera]
- Kagame agrees on ‘need for ceasefire’US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has held talks with Kagame during which he said his country is “deeply troubled” by the conflict in the eastern DRC, according to the State Department.
DR Congo live news: Rwanda-backed M23 rebels tighten grip on Goma
