President Tshisekedi at a Press conference in Kinshasa
Goma, D. R. Congo, January 30 – As an East African bloc urged an immediate ceasefire in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwandan-backed M23 rebels who seized the city of Goma extended their advance on Wednesday, and Congo said it planned a campaign to recover lost territory.
While saying he favours diplomacy, Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, told the nation on Wednesday night that he would mount a military riposte and warned: “The presence of thousands of Rwandan soldiers on our soil … (is leading) to an escalation with unpredictable consequences.”
The eight countries of the East African Community held an emergency summit and called for an immediate ceasefire in eastern Congo and for Congo to negotiate with M23. The United Nations Security Council similarly demanded a halt to the rebel offensive earlier this week.
Congo and Rwanda are both members of the East Africa bloc along with Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and other states. Tshisekedi did not attend the summit while Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame did.
M23 rebels captured Goma, a city of 2 million people and capital of North Kivu province, on Monday. Rwandan forces backed up M23 in Goma, according to Congo, the U.N., the U.S. and other Western powers. Rwanda has denied this.
The rebels advanced south on Wednesday in an apparent attempt to expand their area of control. They marched along the western side of Lake Kivu and neared Kavumu, where Bukavu’s airport is located.
This week’s events represent the gravest escalation of the decades-old conflict in eastern Congo since 2012. The hostilities are rooted in the spillover of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide into Congo and struggle for control of Congo’s lucrative minerals.
In Goma, a hub for displaced people, aid workers, U.N. peacekeepers and Congolese forces, the rebels were consolidating their hold on the city on Wednesday and patrolling the border with Rwanda.
