The Congolese and Rwandan presidents were scheduled to hold talks at an emergency East African summit on Wednesday as M23 rebels, backed by Kigali, tighten their grip on the strategic eastern city of Goma.
Update13h30 UT:
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has decided not to attend a virtual crisis meeting with his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, scheduled for this Wednesday.
The meeting, organised by the East African Community and chaired by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, comes amid escalating tensions following the entry of Rwanda-backed fighters into the eastern DRC city of Goma.
The official Congolese Press Agency confirmed Tshisekedi’s absence earlier in the day, signaling a worsening diplomatic standoff between Kinshasa and Kigali.
Instead of attending the summit, President Tshisekedi is set to address the nation Wedensday evening, according to state broadcaster RTNC.
This will be his first public statement since the occupation of key areas in North Kivu province by the M23 rebel group, which Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of supporting.
His speech is expected to outline the government’s stance on the crisis and possible measures to counter the rebel advance.
Goma airport under M23 control
This comes as the M23 armed group seized Goma’s airport on Tuesday after days of heavy fighting that left more than 100 dead and nearly 1,000 wounded, based on a tally of hospital reports by the French news agency AFP.
It remains unclear how much of the city is controlled by Congolese forces versus M23, which claimed to have taken Goma on Sunday. But as clashes eased overnight, reports said only M23 fighters and Rwandan forces were visible on the streets.
Reuters reported that sporadic gunfire could still be heard in some districts of Goma on Wednesday, despite M23 fighters consolidating their control over key locations.
Residents described looting and disruptions to basic services, including water and electricity.
A security source told AFP that "more than 1,200 Congolese soldiers have surrendered and are confined" to the UN’s DRC mission base at the airport.
France ramps up diplomacy as M23 rebels advance in eastern DRC
Hospitals overwhelmed
Medical facilities are struggling to cope with the influx of wounded. The International Committee of the Red Cross said some patients were "lying on the floor due to lack of space".
The organisation also warned of "unimaginable consequences" if samples of Ebola and other pathogens stored at a Goma laboratory were released amid the fighting.
"Bombs were falling and killing other people everywhere, we saw dead bodies," Destin Jamaica Kela, a 24-year-old who fled across the border to Rwanda, told AFP.
Protests in Kinshasa
As the crisis escalated in Goma, anger erupted in Kinshasa, where protesters attacked several embassies, accusing foreign powers of failing to act.
The missions of France, Belgium, the United States, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa were targeted, with tyres set alight outside several buildings. Demonstrators also attacked the Rwandan embassy.
The US embassy urged its citizens to leave DR Congo, while EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas condemned the attacks as "unacceptable" and "deeply troubling".
Rebels tighten grip on Congo mineral wealth as UN warns of long-term control
Calls for ceasefire
At a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, peacekeepers warned that the fighting risked reigniting ethnic conflicts dating back to the Rwandan genocide.
"In the past four days, the Human Rights Office has documented at least one case of ethnically motivated lynching in a displaced persons site in Goma," said Vivian van de Perre of the UN’s DRC mission Monusco.
The African Union has urged M23 to "lay down arms" but stopped short of naming Rwanda.
In a call with Kagame on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio "urged an immediate ceasefire in the region, and for all parties to respect sovereign territorial integrity".
China’s UN ambassador Fu Cong also called on Rwanda to "stop military support" for the M23.
Thousands flee eastern DRC as M23 rebels encircle provincial capital Goma
Regional tensions
The DRC has long accused Rwanda of backing the rebels to exploit North Kivu’s vast mineral wealth, which includes gold, coltan, copper and cobalt.
Rwanda denies the claim, saying it is defending itself against armed groups linked to the 1994 genocide.
A UN expert report in July found that up to 4,000 Rwandan troops were fighting alongside M23 and that Rwanda had "de facto control" over the group’s operations.
M23 briefly occupied Goma in 2012 before being driven out by Congolese and UN forces the following year. It re-emerged in late 2021 and has since seized large areas of North Kivu province.
At least 17 peacekeepers from a southern African regional force and the UN’s DRC mission have died in the fighting.
A ceasefire in August failed to hold, and Angola-mediated talks collapsed last month.
