Panic spreads in eastern Congo’s largest city as rebels close in around Goma

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Panic spread Thursday in eastern Congo’s main city, with M23 rebels steadily closing in on Goma and seizing a nearby town as they battle the Congolese army. Bombs were heard going off on the distant outskirts of the city and hundreds of Injured civilians were brought to the main hospital from the combat zone.

The rebel group has advanced significantly in recent weeks, closing in on Goma, which has about 2 million people and is a regional center for security and humanitarian efforts. On Thursday, rebels took Sake, a town just 27 kilometers (16 miles) from Goma and one of the last main roads into the provincial capital still under government control, according to the UN chief.

M23 is one of around 100 armed groups fighting over a vantage point Mineral-rich eastern Congoalong the border with Rwanda, in a decades-long conflict This has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.

More than 7 million people have been displaced by the fighting. Earlier this month, M23 captured the cities of Minova, Katale and Masisi, west of Goma.

“The people of Goma have suffered greatly, like other Congolese,” said M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka on X. “M23 is about to liberate them, and they must prepare to welcome this release.”

M23 seized Goma in 2012 and controlled it for more than a week.

As news of the fighting spread, Goma schools sent students home Thursday morning.

“We are told that the enemy wants to enter the city. That’s why we are told to go home,” said Hassan Kambale, a 19-year-old student. “We’re constantly waiting for the bombs.”

Congo, the United States and U.N. experts accuse Rwanda of supporting the M23, mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis who split from the Congolese army more than a decade ago.

Rwanda’s government denies the claim, but last year admitted it had troops and missile systems in eastern Congo to protect its security, pointing to a buildup of Congolese forces near the border. UN experts estimate There are up to 4,000 Rwandan forces in Congo.

Congo’s Communications Minister Patrick Muyaya told French broadcaster France 24 on Wednesday that war with Rwanda was an “option to consider.”

Late Thursday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Condemned “In the strongest terms, the renewed offensive launched by the March 23 Movement (M23),” including the “seizure of sake.”

“This offensive is taking a devastating toll on the civilian population and has increased the risk of a broader regional war,” Guterres’ statement said. He also urged “all parties to respect human rights and international humanitarian law.”

Earlier in the day, Congolese authorities said the military had repelled an attack by the “Rwandan army.” The Associated Press could not verify whether Rwanda’s army participated in the offensive.

“The population is in panic. The M23 now controls large parts of the city,” said Léopold Mwisha, president of civil society in the region.

Guterres said he was “deeply troubled” by the most recent reports of the “presence of Rwandan troops on Congolese soil and the continued support of the M23.”

The U.S. Embassy in Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, in a notice warned “an increase in the severity of armed conflicts near Sake” and advised U.S. nationals in North Kivu province, who understands Goma, to be on alert in case they need to leave their homes at short notice.

The UK also issued a travel advisory which said the M23 now controls sake and urged British nationals to leave Goma while roads remain open.

Many sake residents joined the more than 178,000 people who have fled the M23 advance over the past two weeks.

The CBCA Ndosho hospital in Goma was stretched to the limit, with hundreds of new injuries on Thursday.

Thousands of people escaped the fighting by boat on Wednesday, heading north across Lake Kivu and streaming from packed wooden boats in Goma, some with bundles of their belongings tied around their foreheads.

Neema Matondo said she fled the sake during the night, when the first explosions began to go off. She described seeing people around her torn into pieces and killed.

“We escaped, but unfortunately” others did not, Matondo told the AP.

Mariam Nasibu, who fled with her three children, was in tears – one of her children lost a leg, blown up in the relentless shelling.

“As I continued to flee, another bomb fell in front of me, hitting my child,” she said, screaming.

___

Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writers Monika Pronczuk in Dakar, Senegal; Jean-Yves Kamale and Christina Malkia in Kinshasa, Congo, contributed to this report.