Dead bodies litter the streets of eastern Congo’s Goma city after heavy explosions and gunfire were heard amid intensifying battles between Rwanda-backed rebels and pro-government forces.
Health workers have been shot at and hospital patients, including babies, have been caught in the crossfire, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, as hospitals in the city are overwhelmed by hundreds of people with gunshot, mortar and shrapnel wounds.
Tens of thousands of residents in eastern Congo’s largest city fled their homes after the rebels made swift gains in the North Kivu province bordering Rwanda, in the conflict’s largest escalation since 2012 – when the M23 rebel group last occupied Goma.
“Hospitals are overwhelmed. There are currently hundreds of people in hospital, most admitted with gunshot wounds,” said Adelheid Marschang, WHO’s emergency response coordinator for the DR Congo.
Angry crowds attacked a number of embassies in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, as protesters criticised the alleged complicity of foreign actors in Rwanda’s attack on eastern Congo on Tuesday.
The Rwandan embassy was targeted by protestors, along with the French, US Ugandan, Kenyan, Belgian and Dutch embassies. Those protesting had teargas fired at them by police as they burned tyres while chanting anti-Rwandan slogans and attacked the embassies of countries seen as favourable to Rwanda.
“What Rwanda is doing is with the complicity of France, the US and Belgium. The Congolese people are fed up. How many times do we have to die?” said protester Joseph Ngoy.
Communications minister Patrick Muyaya said police have regained control in the capital and have bolstered security at embassies targeted by demonstrators.
Warehouses with food and medical supplies in Goma have been looted, the UN’s World Food Programme said on Tuesday, as concerns grow around food scarcity in the region with the possibility that food supply could become severely hampered by the fighting.
Four more South African peacekeepers were killed in the fighting, bringing the total to 13 as they joined government troops in defending the Congolese city – a vital humanitarian and trade hub for the region.
An elderly woman in Goma’s northern Majengo neighbourhood, near the airport, told Reuters: “I have heard the crackle of gunfire from midnight until now... it is coming from near the airport.”
Another Majengo resident confirmed they had heard gunfire overnight and into Tuesday morning. “I’m lying on the ground with my family,” they said.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa discussed the recent escalation with Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame after the peacekeeper deaths. The pair agree on the need for a ceasefire.
The M23 rebels, who have fought a number of rebellions in the east against the Democratic Republic of Congo’s central government, have ignored calls from world leaders to halt their offensive in eastern Congo.
Rwanda has dismissed calls for troops to leave, saying its security is threatened, after previously having denied the presence of its military in Congo.
Critics have accused the South African government of failing to do enough to ensure its peacekeeping troops were properly equipped for the conflict, as it bears the brunt of casualties among UN soldiers.
A statement issued by the South African presidency after the phone call between Mr Ramaphosa and Mr Kagame did not mention the deaths. “The two heads of state have agreed on the urgent need for a ceasefire and the resumption of peace talks by all parties to the conflict,” it said.
UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said on Monday that the situation on the ground is “chaotic” but that peacekeepers remained “in their positions on the field”. The UN mission in December had 10,960 peacekeepers and 1,750 civilians in Congo, deployed mostly in the east.
Goma is a key gateway in the DR Congo for the trade in ores of tantalum and tin, which are used in phones and computers.
