Rwanda-backed rebels claim to have seized key city in Congo

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo—In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, government forces and allies defending the city of Goma appear to have collapsed, with M23 rebels backed by neighboring Rwanda claiming they have taken over the city.

All day Sunday the sound of artillery fire could be heard across the city, as Congolese helicopter gunships flew low on the way to the frontlines. Thousands of people carrying their belongings were rushing for the city center, trying to escape the fighting.

Residents of the city took shelter, with stores closed and streets mostly empty. In the outer suburbs, munitions landed in densely packed displacement camps. Power is also cut for most people in the city of over one million people, after electricity lines were damaged in the fighting. Many people struggled to charge their phones and stay in contact with loved ones.

“We’re afraid, but where can we go apart from Lake Kivu,” said Vicky Ushindi, a 23-year old spice seller, referring to the lake whose shores Goma sits on. She said she would stay put if the M23 arrived, but that power cuts posed a more pressing problem than artillery. “In this darkness, the rebels could come without us knowing,” Ushindi added.

The eastern Congo region has been gripped by conflict for over three decades, much of it stemming from the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The M23, which is commanded by Congolese Tutsi officers, first emerged in 2012 as a successor group to earlier Tutsi-led militias in eastern Congo — a region of vast mineral wealth, astounding natural beauty but also extreme poverty. The group captured Goma that same year, before being driven out and going to ground.

But in late 2021 the rebels launched another campaign and swiftly seized control of swathes of territory in North Kivu province, which borders Rwanda. The M23 says that it is fighting to protect minorities in Congo, such as the Tutsi, although rights groups accuse it of committing massacres among other abuses.

In January, the three-year conflict escalated dramatically, with M23 fighters capturing the territory in neighboring South Kivu province for the first time, and descending from positions in the lush hills around Goma to engage Congolese forces and allies in combat. On Saturday, the rebels issued an ultimatum to Congolese forces defending Goma, giving them 48 hours to lay down arms. Congolese forces — supported by UN peacekeepers, European private military companies, and a dizzying area of pro-government local militias — have struggled to hold the rebels back.

A southern African regional military deployment comprising South African, Tanzanian and Malawian troops have also been assisting the Congolese army — which is notoriously weak, ill equipped and corrupt.

The total number of fatalities from the recent offensive remains unclear. But six UN peacekeepers were killed this week around Goma, as well as nine South African soldiers from the regional force.

On Saturday, the United Nations evacuated the majority of its civilian staff from Goma as the danger of the city falling was rising. Aid groups have also evacuated most staff, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people camped around the city with little assistance.

Rwandan involvement
Rwanda, which shares a border with Congo, supports the M23, according to the UN and major world governments including the United States.

Up to 4,000 Rwandan regulars operate in North Kivu, independent experts who report to the UN Security Council report. Rwanda has also deployed high-tech military equipment such as mobile air-defense units to North Kivu to support the M23.

The UN had long resisted publicly acknowledging Rwanda’s direct involvement in the conflict. Rwanda was the second-largest contributor of troops to UN peacekeeping missions worldwide in 2024.

But on Sunday evening, as Goma appeared to be on the brink of falling, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Rwanda to withdraw its forces from Congo. The head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, Bintou Keita, also said Rwandan troops together with M23 fighters had attacked north of Goma on Sunday, “sowing panic”.

Rwanda has never publicly admitted to intervening in North Kivu, nor to supporting the M23. It argues that hate speech and discrimination is at the root of long running insecurity in eastern Congo, and accuses the government in Congo’s capital Kinshasa of collaborating with the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) — a militia founded by Rwandan Hutu officers who fled into Congo after the 1994 genocide.

According to independent UN experts, the Congolese military does cooperate with the FDLR, as well as a string of other militias in its fight against the M23. Analysts do not consider the FDLR a serious military threat to Rwanda, however.

Ongoing fighting

On Sunday evening, artillery fire could still be heard in the northwest of the city, but the situation on the frontlines was unclear. The airport closed earlier in the afternoon, after the M23 declared it was shutting the airspace over Goma.

Hospitals were also overflowing with people wounded by gunshot wounds and shrapnel from artillery strikes, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Congolese authorities have said the army will defend the city to the last. “The war hasn’t started yet. It will start now,” Congolese army spokesman General Sylvain Ekenge told reporters in a televised press conference in Kinshasa on Saturday evening.

While Congo has recalled its ambassador from Rwanda, it has stopped short of formally declaring war.