Explosions and heavy shelling are heard again in besieged Goma, reports AFP on Monday morning – just hours after the fighting on the city's streets was reported to have stopped.
A prison with around 3,000 inmates is said to have been burned down after a large number of prisoners broke out in connection with the chaos. According to AFP's source, several people have been killed and escaped prisoners are seen on Goma's streets.
Hours earlier, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo accused neighboring Rwanda of declaring war with M23's offensive. Goma's international airport has been closed and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. Residents have shared film clips showing M23 rebels patrolling major streets in the city.
People are fleeing everywhere and we don't know where to go. We started fleeing a long time ago, says Alice Feza, who has fled between several cities and is now forced to flee again, to BBC.
UN Security Council condemns
Goma hosts a large part of the international aid organizations and peacekeeping efforts in the country. At least 13 foreign soldiers from peacekeeping forces have been killed in battles with M23 in recent days.
In a statement, the rebels urge Goma's residents to remain calm. The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has not yet commented.
The UN Security Council, which held an emergency meeting on Sunday evening, condemns an "open disregard" for the Democratic Republic of the Congo's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Council demands that the "unauthorized presence of foreign forces in eastern Congo" withdraw immediately, without naming the forces in question.
Rwanda denies
The M23 rebel movement emerged over a decade ago and consists partly of fighters from the Tutsi ethnic group who deserted from the Democratic Republic of the Congo's army.
Rwanda and its president Paul Kagame have denied supporting the rebel group, which the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the US, and the UN accuse the country of.
Through the latest offensive, M23 appears as the leading group among those fighting in the mineral-rich but economically and humanitarily ravaged eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to estimates from, among others, the UN, around 100 rebel groups are active in the eastern part of the country.
