In the Democratic Republic of Congo, rebels besiege Goma

The rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23) have killed the governor of the Congolese province of North Kivu, General Peter Cirimwam, and continue to approach the capital, Goma, whose surroundings have been the scene of fighting with the army for days regular from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The USA, Great Britain and France have urged their citizens to leave the city, where one million inhabitants remain, about half the pre-existing population. The clashes resumed after the failure of Angola’s mediation between the authorities in Kinshasa and Rwanda, which supports the M23. Kigali, which once completely denied support for the militias, claims to have intervened to defend the Tutsi minority, to which most of the rebels belong. The Congolese government instead accuses Rwanda of wanting to use the M23 to appropriate the rich mineral resources of Kivu.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “alarmed” by the resurgence of violence in the region and condemned “an offensive” that could aggravate “the risk of regional war”. The Congolese president, Felix Tshisekedi, held a crisis meeting last night and is expected to chair the defense council later in the day.

The United Nations also confirmed the death of General Cirimwami, who was shot down yesterday while fighting on the front line. Military sources report that a battle is underway about twenty kilometers from Goma, the epicenter of the violence that has devastated the African country for thirty years. The M23 managed to take control of the city in 2012, the year of its foundation, only to be driven out by the army a short time later. The conflict between the Kinshasa forces and the M23, supported by 3-4 thousand Rwandan soldiers deployed in the East, has lasted for three years and has further aggravated the humanitarian crisis in the region.