DRC

Confusion in Goma as rebels advance

Article published on the 2008-10-29 Latest update 2008-10-29 15:54 TU

People on the road to Goma after fleeing fighting in Kibumba (around 20 km north of Goma)
(Photo: Michael Arunga/Reuters)

The governor of Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic and Congo said on Wednesday that the city was "panicking", and claimed that government troops have left the city. Rebel General Laurent Nkunda's forces approaching as fighting intensifies. A UN Security Council meeting Tuesday failed to reach a decision on whether to send more peacekeepers to the area.

A UN employee in Goma, Patrick Lavandome, told RFI on Wednesday that the regional capital was "extremely quiet" and that civilians in a UN camp in Kibati had started to move towards the city.

The UN's refugee agency earlier said about 30,000 refugees had reached Kibati, which is about ten kilometres north of Goma.

Shops were being closed in Goma and some people were attempting to move across the Rwandan border, Lavandome added.

Around 20,000 people are reported to be moving towards Goma as they flee the advance of the rebels of the CNDP (Conseil national pour la défense du peuple) of General Laurent Nkunda.

René Abandi, spokesman for the CNDP, told RFI on Tuesday that the rebels were "to protect people and to reduce the capacity of the FARDC to continue to destroy the region (and) the people".

 

The United Nations deployed attack helicopters for the second day against the rebels. Wednesday's fighting occured around Kibumba, about 30 kilometres north of Goma, and a senior officer with Nkunda's men said they withdrew slightly and retreated to "high positions near Kibumba".

The DRC army pulled out of the town of Rutshuru, north of Goma, on Tuesday with the UN moving in. The UN's head of military operations, Colonel Samba Tall said that the UN mission, Monuc, would remain in the town "in protection of the population".

At Tuesday evening's meeting of the Security Council Monuc head Alan Doss said "it would appear that the CNDP is trying to attack both Rutshuru and Goma". He said DRC forces had abandoned some positions which was "putting additional pressure on Monuc itself".

He said the UN mission had met with government officials describing tensions between the DRC and Rwanda as having reached "dangerous levels".

Anonymous Congolese government officials have claimed that Nkunda rebels were "backed by Rwandan tanks". A delegation from the DRC led by Foreign Minister Alexis Tambe Mwamba visited Rwanda to suggest a meeting between President Joseph Kabila and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame.

Hundreds of refugees have fled into Uganda. Residents in the town of Rugarama, which is about 15 kilometres from the border and which has already been taken by rebel forces, said 3,000 had fled the town.