The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) army and M23 fighters clashed outside Goma on Friday as the UK, US and France urged citizens to leave the main city in the country’s volatile east, warning the situation could deteriorate rapidly.
Since peace talks failed, the militia group backed by Rwandan troops has gained swathes of territory in mineral-rich eastern DR Congo over the past few weeks, triggering a humanitarian crisis and ringing the provincial capital, which is home to a million people.
US, British and French nationals were urged to leave Goma while airports and borders were still open, in online statements or in messages sent directly by e-mail or text. With fighting intensifying, the UN mission in DRC, known as MONUSCO, on Friday said that its peacekeepers were fighting against the M23.
Photo: AP
MONUSCO’s Quick Reaction Forces have “been actively engaged in intense combat,” the UN said in a statement, adding that “over the past 48 hours MONUSCO heavy artillery fire carried out fire missions against M23 positions.”
It said the raging conflict in the North Kivu province had displaced more than 400,000 people this year and could spark a regional war.
The UN Security Council is to hold an emergency meeting tomorrow to discuss the escalating crisis, a spokesperson said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “alarmed by the resumption of hostilities,” his spokesman said in a statement.
“The number of displacements is now over 400,000 people this year alone, almost double the number reported last week,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh, told a news briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday.
UNHCR is “gravely concerned about the safety and security of civilians and internally displaced people” in the east, Saltmarsh said.
“Heavy bombardments caused families from at least nine displacement sites on the periphery of Goma to flee into the city to seek safety and shelter,” he said, adding that many were living rough.
Military sources said clashes took place all day about 20km west of Goma, where cuts to mobile and Internet networks as well as electricity were frequent.
Witnesses said Congolese military helicopters headed Friday toward M23 positions around Sake — 25km northwest of Goma — with explosions heard in western districts of the town.
DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi was due to hold a defense council meeting yesterday, following a crisis meeting on Thursday.
The military governor of North Kivu, General Peter Cirimwami, died on Friday morning, military and UN sources said.
He had been shot on Thursday near the front line.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS