Rwandan-backed rebels M23 claim capture of eastern DRC city Goma | Democratic Republic of the Congo

Fighters from the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group claim to have taken the eastern city of Goma after a lightning advance in recent weeks that has forced thousands from their homes and risked reigniting a broader regional war.

“We urge all residents of Goma to remain calm. The liberation of the city has been successfully carried out, and the situation is under control,” the M23 spokesperson, Lawrence Kanyuka, said on X.

It was not clear on Monday morning how much of Goma, the capital of North Kivu state in eastern DRC, was controlled by the rebels, but witnesses in the city said rebel fighters could be seen in the centre. Residents said gunfire could be heard near the airport, city centre and near the border with Rwanda.

The rebels had ordered government soldiers to surrender by 3am on Monday (0100 GMT) and 100 Congolese soldiers had handed over their weapons to Uruguayan troops in the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC (Monusco), Uruguay’s military said. Monusco staff and their families were evacuating across the border to Rwanda on Monday morning, where 10 buses were waiting to pick them up.

The eastern borderlands of DRC are a tinderbox of rebel and militia fiefdoms stemming from two regional wars after Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, when Hutu extremists murdered close to 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus. M23 is the latest in a long line of Tutsi-led rebel movements.

On Sunday, the UN special representative Bintou Keita told the UN security council that despite peacekeepers’ support for the Congolese armed forces, M23 and Rwandan forces had entered the Munigi neighbourhood on Goma’s outskirts, “causing mass panic”. Keita said M23 fighters were advancing and using residents “as human shields” as others fled for their lives.

DRC’s foreign minister, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, told the security council that Rwanda was committing “a frontal aggression, a declaration of war which no longer hides itself behind diplomatic manoeuvres”.

Rwanda’s ambassador to the UN, Ernest Rwamucyo, did not confirm or deny DRC’s claims. He blamed the country’s government, saying the crisis could have been averted if it had “demonstrated a genuine commitment to peace”.

M23 says it exists to protect the ethnic Tutsi population in DRC. The rebels briefly took over Goma in 2012, withdrawing after international donors cut aid to Rwanda over its support for the group. They resurfaced in late 2021, with increasing support from Rwanda.

M23’s offensive risks worsening one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. More than one-third of the population of North Kivu state are displaced, according to the UN.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report