(Reuters) – Congolese troops repelled an overnight bid by Rwanda-backed rebels on the eastern city of Goma, two Congolese military sources said on Saturday, after the sound of heavy shelling nearby rocked the city in the early hours.
The situation appeared calm in the provincial capital of over a million people by Saturday morning, with people defiantly going about their business amid a heavy police presence, Reuters reporters there said.
The three-year-old M23 insurgency in the mineral-rich east of the Democratic Republic of Congo emerged in January, with the rebels taking control of more territory than ever before and vowing on Friday to take Goma.
Congolese forces repelled an offensive on the city overnight by holding a defensive line, a Congolese military source said.
An army officer, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the insurgents targeted those defenses with heavy weapons and the army responded.
“We have stopped their progress. We are keeping them at a distance from Gom,” the official said.
The Congolese government and military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The recent sharp escalation prompted the United Nations to warn of the risk of a wider regional war. Congo, the UN and others accuse neighboring Rwanda of fueling the conflict with its own troops and weapons. Rwanda denies this.
In recent days, the military governor of North Kivu was killed on the front line. In other news, three South African soldiers were killed and 14 others wounded in fighting in the east on Thursday, their military union said on Saturday. South Africa is among a number of foreign forces helping Congolese troops fight insurgents in the region.
The onslaught of hostilities has also deepened the already dire humanitarian situation in the eastern provinces with 400,000 more people forced to flee their homes this year, according to the UN refugee agency.
“The situation facing Goma civilians is becoming increasingly dangerous, and the humanitarian needs are enormous,” Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.
The US Foreign Relations Committee and the European Union have warned of the threat to Goma and called on M23 to halt its progress.
In a statement on Saturday, the EU said that “Rwanda must stop supporting M23 and withdraw.”
The Rwandan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
M23 briefly managed to take over Goma during a previous rebellion in 2012, which forced international donors to cut aid to Rwanda. Even then, the rebels did not hold as much ground as they do now.
