DR Congo battles intensify, Western nations ask citizens to leave Goma

The DR Congo army and M23 fighters clashed outside Goma on Friday as the UK, US and France urged citizens to leave the main city in the country’s volatile east, warning the situation could deteriorate rapidly.

Since peace talks failed, the militia group backed by Rwandan troops has gained swathes of territory in mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in recent weeks, triggering a humanitarian crisis and ringing the provincial capital, which is home to a million people.

The United States, Britain and France called on nationals to leave Goma while airports and borders are still open, in online statements or in messages sent directly by email or SMS.

The United Nations warned the raging conflict in the North Kivu province had displaced over 400,000 people this year and could spark a regional war.

“The number of displacements is now over 400,000 people this year alone, almost double the number reported last week,” Matthew Saltmarsh, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), told a news briefing in Geneva on Friday.

Saltmarsh said the UNHCR is “gravely concerned about the safety and security of civilians and internally displaced people (IDP)” in the east.

“Heavy bombardments caused families from at least nine displacement sites on the periphery of Goma to flee into the city to seek safety and shelter,” he said, adding that many were living rough.

UN chief Antonio Guterres was “alarmed by the resumption of hostilities”, his spokesman said in a statement.

The DRC requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, relayed by France, AFP learned Friday from diplomatic sources.

No date has as yet been set for the meeting.

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Clashes took place all day just 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Goma where cuts to mobile and internet networks, as well as electricity were frequent.

The M23 was also present in the town of Sake on Friday, according to a military source. Sake, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of Goma, witnessed intense fighting the previous day.

Congolese army helicopters headed towards Sake Friday morning, with explosions heard in western districts of the town, although it was not clear how intense the fighting was.

President Felix Tshisekedi was due to hold a defence council meeting during the day, following a crisis meeting on Thursday.

The military governor of North Kivu, General Peter Cirimwami, died Friday morning, according to military and UN sources.

He had been shot Thursday near the frontline.

Civilians fleeing on foot 

The Congolese army on Thursday deployed helicopter gunships which fired volleys of rockets towards the frontline in a bid to halt the M23 fighters advancing on Goma.

At least a dozen armoured personnel carriers from the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) were seen heading west from Goma.

Armoured vehicles from the Southern African Development Community Mission in the DRC, there to support the Congolese army, were also seen transporting guns towards Sake.

Medical teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross treated more than 70 wounded people at the hospital in Goma on Thursday.

Civilians have been fleeing the fighting since Thursday, travelling on foot to the centre of Goma.

Goma is at the epicentre of the violence that has rocked eastern DRC for 30 years.

The M23 — March 23 Movement — briefly occupied the city at the end of 2012.

But the Congolese army, with the support of MONUSCO and diplomatic pressure from the international community on Rwanda, recaptured the city shortly after.

Diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis have so fair failed.

In December, a meeting between Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame as part of an Angola-led peace process was cancelled due to lack of agreement.

Turkey, which is very active across Africa, offered on Thursday to lead a DRC-Rwanda mediation.

A half-dozen ceasefires and truces have already been declared in the region, then broken, with the last ceasefire signed at the end of July.