Amid fighting between M23 rebels and government forces in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, some organizations are relocating staff because they no longer feel safe. This comes after the reportedly Rwandan-backed rebels said over the weekend they had taken control of Goma, the biggest city in the region.
Rose Tchwenko, the DRC’s country director for Mercy Corps, told VOA that since last week, the humanitarian group has closely monitored the situation as government forces and M23 clashed in and around Goma, a city of around 2 million people.
“From Wednesday last week, with the fall of Minova, followed by the fall of Sake, which are key supply routes into Goma, the situation looked a little bit more dire with the imminent takeover or incursion into Goma itself by the rebel forces,” she said. “We made some decisions, first to move out non-essential staff, pull back our teams from the ground where it was no longer safe to continue to provide humanitarian services.”
But that changed quickly, as the situation grew more unstable in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, which is on the border with Rwanda.
“On Sunday with the escalation of the conflict around Goma, we had to pull out even the senior team into Gisenyi (across the border in Rwanda) so that we can continue to operate and provide the necessary support to our teams across the country,” she said.
She told VOA the situation was dire.
“As of yesterday, we know that the airport in Goma is closed and under M23 control,” she said. “We have heard reports of sporadic fighting throughout the center of Goma city. Some of us on this side of the border could actually [hear] gunshots at some point during the night. We are aware of M23 presence in Goma but still uncertain of what the actual situation is.”
As M23 rebels last week made advances into Goma, three U.N. peacekeepers died and seven South African soldiers and three from Malawi, serving in a separate Southern African Development Community mission, also were killed, according to U.N. and South African officials.
At an emergency meeting on Sunday, the United Nations Security Council called for an end to the hostilities.
Bintou Keita, the head of the U.N. mission in Congo, addressed the Council via video link, painting a bleak picture.
“Roads are blocked and the airport can no longer be used for evacuation or humanitarian efforts,” he said. “M23 has declared the airspace over Goma closed. In other words, we are trapped.”
Jack Mongi, a Goma resident who sent VOA an audio message in French via WhatsApp, said that fighting was still going on around the airport.
“As I speak, you can hear gunshots, we are under our mattresses, under our beds and if you listen, you can hear the gunshots….”
The Congolese minister of foreign affairs told the U.N. Security Council that this is “a frontal assault, a declaration of war.”
VOA reached out to the Rwandan government for comment but has not immediately heard back.
Many countries represented at the special Security Council meeting condemned the attacks, including the acting U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Dorothy Shea, who called for a ceasefire.
“The United States will consider all the tools at its disposal in order to hold accountable those responsible for sustaining armed conflict, instability and insecurity,” she said.
In Nairobi, Kenya’s President William Ruto said he spoke to both Congolese and Rwanda presidents and called for an “immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities.”
Ruto, who’s also the chair of the East African Community, says he’ll be convening an extraordinary EAC summit in coming days to try to chart a way forward in this crisis.
