UN chief calls on Rwandan forces to leave DRC as rebel offensive | News about armed groups

Antonio Guterres calls on M23 rebels to immediately cease all hostile actions as thousands of civilians flee Goma in eastern DRC.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has called on Rwandan forces to withdraw from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and halt support for M23 fighters advancing in the key eastern city of Goma.

Guterres “reiterates his strongest condemnation of the M23 armed group’s offensive offensive and advance towards Goma in North Kivu with the support of the Rwandan Defense Forces,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement on Sunday.

“He calls on M23 to immediately stop all hostile actions and withdraw from the occupied territories. It further calls on the Rwandan Defense Forces to stop supporting M23 and withdraw from DRC territory,” the statement said.

The DRC and the UN accuse Rwanda of supporting the M23 (March 23 Movement) rebels, a charge Kigali denies.

At a UN Security Council meeting later on Sunday, the DRC demanded sanctions against Rwanda, saying its forces had crossed into its territory in what amounted to a “declaration of war”.

“”More Rwandan troops crossed the 12th and 13th border posts between Goma (in DC) and Gisenyi (in Rwanda), entering our territory in broad daylight in an open and deliberate violation of our national sovereignty,” Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner said.

“This is a frontal attack, a declaration of war that no longer hides behind diplomatic art,” she said and called on the Security Council to “impose targeted sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans not only against identified members of the Rwandan Armed Forces chain of command, but also against the political decision-makers responsible for this aggression.”

France and the United Kingdom have also pressed Rwanda over its role in recent fighting around the city of Goma, east of DC.

The French ambassador to the UN called on Rwanda to withdraw its troops from the territory of the DRC, while Great Britain called for an end to the attacks on the peacekeeping forces of the M23 rebels who received support from Rwanda.

The meeting was held a day earlier than planned after three UN peacekeepers from Uruguay and South Africa were killed in East DC.

Seven other South African soldiers and three from Malawi serving in a separate southern African mission were also killed this week, South African and UN officials said.

Rebels approaching Goma

M23 fighters closed in on Goma on Sunday, forcing thousands of civilians to flee and grounding flights from the local airport as government forces battled to stop the rebels from taking over the city.

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

M23 fighters have begun to move into Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, and earlier this week about a million people came home and vowed to capture the city.

Gunfire and artillery fire could be heard on the outskirts of the city since early Sunday, prompting panic in some areas, residents told the Reuters news agency.

By mid-afternoon, rebels were closing in on Goma airport, two state soldiers told the agency.

Airport officials said flights were no longer operating. On Sunday, the UN told staff in Goma not to go to the airport and to stay sheltered.

DRC cut off All diplomatic ties with Rwanda amid this week’s rebel offensive.

Eastern Congo remains a tinderbox of rebel zones and fighters since two successive regional wars stemming from the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Three years into their current conflict, the rebels now control more Congolese territory than ever before.

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