A rebel militia backed by Rwanda on Monday announced the capture of the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a major victory for the group and one of the most significant escalations in the conflict between the two countries in years.
The militia, known as M23, briefly occupied Goma once before, in 2012, then was defeated and lay dormant for almost a decade. Now it has come roaring back, aiming to occupy the region for the long term and exploit its valuable rare minerals, according to United Nations experts.
This time, M23 appears to be in a stronger position to keep hold of Goma, a city made up mainly of people who left their homes in terror and will now have to live under the rule of one of the armed groups they fled.
A spokesman for M23 announced the “liberation of the city of Goma” in a post on X, saying Congolese military personnel had to hand over their arms to the U.N. and assemble in a stadium before 3 a.m.
On Monday morning, sporadic gunfire rang out over Goma. A line of military pickups lay abandoned on a road running through part of the city. Residents said that Congolese soldiers had left them there and fled on boats over Lake Kivu. Videos circulated in local WhatsApp groups of rebels marching through the city and of a few citizens lining the streets in welcome, in what observers said was probably an attempt to placate the newly occupying militia. Reports circulated that Goma’s prison had been opened and its inmates released, but there was no independent confirmation of that move.
The conflict in eastern Congo — an area about the size of Michigan — was once labeled Africa’s World War. It has been going on since the 1990s, and has involved dozens of armed groups, of which M23 is currently dominant.
The rebels plan to occupy and exploit the region for the long term, according to the U.N. and the United States, which say the group is funded and directed by Congo’s much smaller neighbor Rwanda. Rwanda denies those accusations.
The rebels’ advance on Goma, which began with an offensive in the region launched this month, escalated rapidly over the past three weeks, prompting people to flee to — and from — the city.
On Sunday morning, thousands of people arrived in Goma from areas north of the city, some toting the few possessions they had managed to grab in pieces of cloth tied around their foreheads, others carrying babies only a few days old. Many had already been displaced and were fleeing bombs that had fallen near camps. Others had left their villages, which were caught in the crossfire between M23 and the Congolese armed forces.
Camps on the outskirts of Goma that had hosted more than 300,000 people completely emptied out in a few hours, the U.N. said.
On Friday, the military governor of North Kivu, the province of which Goma is the capital, was fatally wounded on the battlefield, according to a Congolese military spokesman. The circumstances of his death remained murky, but the spokesman said that the governor, Gen. Peter Cirimwami, died as he was being evacuated to Kinshasa, Congo’s capital.
On Saturday, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Goma evacuated many of its staff members from the city, putting them on buses to the airport with plans to fly out to Entebbe, in neighboring Uganda.
In 2012, Rwanda came under intense international pressure to stop backing M23, and as a result, the militia was defeated the following year. But it is unclear whether such pressure can be summoned again, experts said. Rwanda has built up its relationships with Western nations since then, and has become less dependent on aid.
At an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Sunday, the United States and other members condemned Rwanda’s actions, but stopped short of calling for sanctions. Bintou Keita, the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, told the meeting that three peacekeepers had been killed trying to protect Goma and a nearby town, Saké, from M23’s advance. She also said that the rebels had closed the airspace over Goma.
“In other words, we are trapped,” she said.
As the rebels advanced on Goma, an already dire humanitarian situation was becoming even worse. Over 400,000 people have fled their homes since the start of this year, according to the U.N. refugee agency, as M23 rebels have attacked new areas of North Kivu province, where Goma is, and South Kivu. They joined 4.6 million people who were already displaced in Congo’s east.
And still, people poured into Goma, often in long columns.
Some pushed wheelbarrows with a few salvaged belongings. Some had bicycles or carried mattresses on their heads and backs. Many of them had life-threatening injuries.
Myriam Favier, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross’s sub-delegation in Goma, said on Friday that the day before, more than 100 people had arrived within 24 hours at the hospital where she worked — normally the number of people who arrive in a whole month.
“They’re coming from everywhere,” she said. “They’re coming from all fronts.”
Ms. Favier described medical staff treating patients with mortar or shrapnel wounds and said that the number of minors with serious injuries had been increasing significantly. She called on those using heavy artillery to reduce their attacks, saying that so many people were arriving with head wounds and chest trauma that the hospital had run out of beds and had to put patients on mattresses in the parking lot.
Across Goma, schools were being turned into shelters for displaced people. Families were stocking up what supplies they could so they did not have to venture out.
Many of the people who fled had sought sanctuary in Goma, knowing it was in the rebels’ sights, but having no other option.
As the city fell into M23’s hands, they hid where they could, many of them hungry, cold or badly injured. Some slept in the street, others in hospitals.
Solange Safi Ndakwinja was trying to look after her three daughters, who were badly injured by a bomb that exploded at an army checkpoint.
“My hope is God will help us,” Ms. Ndakwinja said. “For the rest, we don’t know what will happen.”
Elian Peltier contributed reporting from Dakar, Senegal, and Declan Walsh from Nairobi, Kenya.
