UN chief urges Rwandan forces to leave DRC amid rebel attack | Armed Groups News

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

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Rwandan forces to withdraw from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and stop supporting M23 fighters advancing on the main city of Goma in the east of the country.

Guterres “reiterates in the strongest terms the ongoing offensive by the M23 armed group and its 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 cease 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 M23 (March 23 Movement) rebels, a charge Kigali denies.

At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday, the DRC called for sanctions against Rwanda, saying its forces had moved into its territory and that it was a “declaration of war”.

“More Rwandan soldiers crossed the 12th and 13th border posts between Goma (DRC) and Gisenyi (Rwanda) into our territory in broad daylight, openly and deliberately violating our national sovereignty,” said Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner.

“This is a frontal attack, a declaration of war no longer hidden behind diplomatic gimmicks,” he said, calling on the Security Council to “impose targeted sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, not only against identified members of the chain of command” but also against the Rwandan armed forces. against the political decision-makers responsible for this aggression.”

France and the UK have also pressured Rwanda over its role in recent fighting around the eastern DRC city of Goma.

France’s ambassador to the UN has called on Rwanda to withdraw its troops from the DRC, and the UK has called on the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels to stop attacks on peacekeepers.

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

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

The rebels are approaching Goma

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

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

M23 fighters launched an offensive on Goma, the capital of North Kivu province and home to about one million people, earlier this week and vowed to capture the city.

Residents told the Reuters news agency that since Sunday morning, gunfire and artillery could be heard on the outskirts of the city, causing panic in some areas.

Two government soldiers told the agency that in the afternoon, the rebels approached Goma’s airport.

Airport officials said flights are no longer operating. On Sunday, the UN told workers in Goma not to go to the airport and stay in a shelter.

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

Eastern Congo remains a hotbed of rebel zones and fighters following two successive regional wars stemming from Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

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

The well-trained and professionally armed M23 – the latest of the Tutsi-led rebel movements – says it exists to protect the DRC’s ethnic Tutsi population.