Rwanda-backed rebels close in on major Congo city

Rebels from the Democratic Republic of Congo have surrounded the eastern city of Goma, in one of the sharpest escalations in years of a conflict between the central African country and its neighbor Rwanda.

On Thursday morning, rebels from the Rwandan-backed M23 group captured Saké, forcing Congolese forces to retreat quickly, according to humanitarian officials and eyewitnesses. It was the last major military position before Goma, a provincial capital of more than 2 million inhabitants.

The fall of Goma would be a major step for a group that seized the city and held it for two weeks in 2012, but withdrew after Rwanda came under intense international pressure to stop to support the militias. The United States and United Nations say Rwanda finances and directs the M23, accusations that Rwanda has denied.

In late 2013, the Congolese army and United Nations forces quickly defeated the rebel group, which then remained dormant for nearly a decade.

Since then, the M23 has returned in force, starting at the end of 2021, inflicting a series of major defeats on the Congolese army. At the same time, peace talks led by Congo’s southwestern neighbor Angola have stalled and the fate of U.N. peacekeepers was until recently uncertain as their mandate was renewed in December for one year only.