Congo rebels seize eastern city as U.N. forces look on
By Jonny Hogg
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo | Tue Nov 20, 2012 3:31pm EST
(Reuters) - Rebels widely believed to be backed by Rwanda seized the eastern
Congolese town of Goma on Tuesday, parading past United Nations peacekeepers
who gave up the battle for the frontier city of one million people.
As the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo were due to
meet for crisis talks in Uganda, <
http://www.reuters.com/places/france>
France called for a review of the local U.N. mandate, saying it was "absurd"
that a substantial force, made up of troops from India, South Africa and
Uruguay, had failed to hold off a few hundred rebels.
The rebel takeover of Goma came after days of clashes between the M23
movement and U.N.-backed Congolese soldiers that forced tens of thousands of
residents to flee, raising fears of human rights abuses in the sprawling
lakeside city.
The M23 rebellion has aggravated tensions between Congo and its neighbor
Rwanda, which Kinshasa's government says is orchestrating the insurgency as
a means of grabbing the chaotic region's mineral wealth. Rwanda denies the
assertion.
As night fell in the town, the capital of North Kivu province, gunfire had
died down and the streets were largely deserted, apart from some rebel
patrols on the streets.
The capture of Goma will be an embarrassment for Congo's President Joseph
Kabila, who won re-election late last year in polls that provoked widespread
riots. There were pockets of demonstrations against the fall of Goma in
other towns.
A senior U.N. source told Reuters that international peacekeepers gave up
defending Goma after the Congolese troops evacuated under pressure from the
advancing rebels.
"There is no army left in the town, not a soul," he said, asking not to be
named. "Once they were in the town, what could we do? It could have been
very serious for the population."
But French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called for an overhaul of the
mandate for MONUSCO, the U.N.'s Congo mission.
"MONUSCO is 17,000 soldiers, but sadly it was not in a position to prevent
what happened. It is necessary that the MONUSCO mandate is reviewed," Fabius
told reporters.
While conflict has simmered almost constantly in Congo's east in recent
years, this is the first time Goma has fallen to rebels since foreign
occupying armies officially pulled out under peace deals at the end of the
most recent 1998-2003 war.
U.N. experts say Rwanda, a small but militarily capable neighbor that has
intervened in Congo repeatedly over the past 18 years, is behind the revolt.
Congo's mineral wealth, including diamonds, gold, copper and coltan - used
in mobile phones - has inflamed the conflict and little has been spent on
developing a country the size of Western Europe.
VICTORY PARADE
Hundreds of M23 fighters accompanied their leader Sultani Makenga into Goma,
where they were greeted by cheering crowds shouting "welcome" and "thank
you". Many in the town share ethnic and cultural ties with the rebels and
with Rwanda.
Before the rebel force arrived, local people, many apparently drunk, had
thrown up roadblocks of stones in the largely deserted streets pelted by
heavy rain.
"We've taken the town, it's under control," said Colonel Vianney Kazarama, a
spokesman for the rebels. "We're very tired, we're going to greet our
friends now."
Analysts said it was unclear if M23 would try to make Goma a base for a push
on the Congolese capital Kinshasa, 1,500 km (900 miles) away, as past
rebellions have done, or would use the victory to demand the government open
talks with its leaders.
"By making this demand, the M23 aimed to reduce the crisis to a domestic
affair, thereby preventing Kinshasa from internationalizing it in order to
negotiate a solution at the regional level," the International Crisis Group
said.
Sources at Uganda's presidency said Kabila was due to meet Rwandan President
Paul Kagame in Kampala after Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni met the two
leaders separately.
Uganda's Junior Foreign Affairs Minister Asuman Kiyingi told Reuters the
rebels would not attend the talks.
Congo's government has rejected direct talks with the rebels, saying any
dialogue must be with Rwanda, not the M23. "We will continue (resisting)
until Rwanda has been pushed out of our country," Information Minister
Lambert Mende said.
But Rwanda said Congo and its foreign backers have failed to address the
root causes of the conflict.
"What happened today in Goma is a clear indication that the military option
has failed to bring about a solution to this crisis and that political
dialogue is the only way to resolve the ongoing conflict," the foreign
ministry said.
Rwanda accused Congolese troops on Monday of shelling the Rwandan border
town of Gisenyi, but it added it would not respond militarily to what it
called Congo's "provocation".
Before M23 took the city, streams of residents crossed into Rwanda. More
than 50,000 people who fled earlier fighting abandoned refugee camps around
Goma, according to Oxfam.
"With the war, we're suffering so much, I've never seen anything like this
in my life," a woman who gave her name only as Aisha told Reuters, clutching
her three children.
KIGALI'S ROLE
The U.N. has about 6,700 peacekeeping troops in North Kivu, including some
1,400 troops in and around Goma, and the mission had previously promised to
defend the town. It has used attack helicopters to repeatedly strike rebel
advances south.
On Tuesday afternoon, armored U.N. vehicles still rolled through the streets
of Goma, offering help to residents, but troops did not try to block the
rebels. No government soldiers were to be seen, with residents saying they
left along the main road west toward Bukavu after the rebels began moving
in.
The U.N. said on Tuesday its forces could not substitute the nation's
security forces but said peacekeepers remained in control of the airport and
would protect civilians.
Wars in the central African nation have killed about 5 million people in a
decade and a half and many eastern areas are still afflicted by violence
from a number of rebel groups, despite the decade-long peacekeeping mission.
While M23 has been accused of abuses in areas it controls, it has also set
up an administration that tries to provide basic services such as
healthcare, police training and garbage removal, residents have told
Reuters.
M23 is led by members of a previous rebel movement who were brought into the
Congolese army and then mutinied eight months ago, accusing the government
of violating the deal. Many, however, believe they have since become a front
for Rwanda.
Uganda has blamed the current upsurge in fighting on U.N. accusations that
it was supporting rebels, a charge it denies.
"Uganda was mediating in this conflict ... and we had managed to restrain
M23," Kiyingi said. "Then the U.N. comes up with these wild and baseless
allegations against us and we decided to step aside and leave the situation
to them and now you see the results."
Before taking Goma, the rebels controlled a string of towns to the north and
east, near the borders with Uganda and Rwanda.
Congo analyst Jason Stearns said the fall of Goma would probably intensify
international pressure on Rwanda, which has had aid cut due to the
accusations it supporting Congo's rebels. But it may also now see an
opportunity to exert its influence.
"Donors, and probably the Congolese government, will," Stearns said, "Have
no choice but to deal with the rebels and call on Rwanda to help."
(Additional reporting by Elias Biryabarema in Kampala, John Irish in Paris,
Richard Lough in Nairobi, Bienvenu Bakumanya in Kinshasa, Richard Valdmanis,
David Lewis and Bate Felix in Dakar and Michelle Nichols at the United
Nations; Writing by Richard Valdmanis and David Lewis; Editing by David
Stamp and Alastair Macdonald)
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Received on Tue Nov 20 2012 - 17:25:45 EST
