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Reuters

A summit of African leaders meeting to address the crisis in the DR Congo on Saturday called for an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” within five days.
The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has rapidly seized swathes of territory in the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in an offensive that has left thousands dead and displaced vast numbers.
The summit in Tanzania brought together Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his Congolese counterpart Félix Tshisekedi as well as leaders from both the East African Community (EAC) and 16-member Southern African Development Community.
Kagame appeared in person, while Tshisekedi joined via video call.
In the final statement, the summit called for army chiefs from both communities “to meet within five days and provide technical direction on an immediate and unconditional ceasefire”.
It also called for an opening of humanitarian corridors to evacuate the dead and injured.

Meanwhile, fighting was ongoing around 60km (35 miles) from the South Kivu provincial capital of Bakuvu, local and security sources said.
The M23 took the strategic city of Goma, capital of North Kivu province, last week and is pushing into neighbouring South Kivu in the latest episode of decades-long turmoil in the region.
Since the M23 re-emerged in 2021, peace talks hosted by both Angola and Kenya have failed, and multiple ceasefires have collapsed.
Rwanda denies supporting the M23 militarily.
But a report by United Nations experts said last year Rwanda had around 4,000 troops in Congo and profited from smuggling out of the country vast amounts of gold and coltan – a mineral vital for phones and laptops.
Rwanda accuses Congo of sheltering the FDLR, an armed group created by ethnic Hutus who massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
The summit comes amid reports that the M23 is closing on the town of Kavumu in South Kivu, which hosts an airport critical to supplying Congolese troops.
There have also been reports of panic in the provincial capital Bukavu as residents board up shops and seek to escape.
“The border with Rwanda is open but almost impassable because of the number of people trying to cross. It’s total chaos,” they said.

UN rights chief Volker Turk warned on Friday: “If nothing is done, the worst may be yet to come for the people of the eastern DRC but also beyond the country’s borders.”
Turk said nearly 3,000 people had been confirmed killed and 2,880 wounded since the M23 entered Goma on January 26, and that the final tolls were likely to be much higher.
He also said his team was “currently verifying multiple allegations of rape, gang rape and sexual slavery”.
M23 has already installed its own mayor and local authorities in Goma.
It has vowed to march all the way to the national capital Kinshasa, even though the city lies about 1,600km (1,000 miles) away across the vast country, which is roughly the size of western Europe.
The Congolese army, which has a reputation for poor training and corruption, has been forced into multiple retreats.
The M23 offensive has raised fears of regional war, given that several countries are engaged in supporting Congo militarily, including South Africa, Burundi and Malawi.


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Africa

DR Congo crisis: African leaders call for ‘immediate ceasefire’ at Tanzania summit

A graffiti artist spray-paints a mural depicting the ‘Congo’ letters bleeding as tribute to the victims of the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, at the Tipo Studio, in Nairobi, Kenya, on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Leaders from the regional blocs of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and The East African Community (EAC), in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Civilians attend a meeting organised by M23 in Goma, in DR Congo’s North Kivu province, on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

Intense combat nears eastern DR Congo, UN plans urgent meeting

Uruguayan soldiers of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). Photo: AFP

A victim of the fighting between M23 and the Congolese army receives treatment in a hospital in Goma on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Kaja Kallas, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Photo: dpa

The United Nations (UN) staff and their families outside the UN peacekeeping mission bureau before their relocation from Goma, on Saturday. Photo: Xinhua

Rwanda ‘welcomes’ proposed summit on DR Congo conflict

African heads of state and senior government officials pose for a photo ahead of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) extraordinary summit in Harare, Zimbabwe on Friday. Photo: AFP

Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Photo: dpa

South African peacekeepers killed in DRC as fighting rages

Smoke billows from an armored personnel carrier (APC) of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) on Saturday. Photo: AFP

Soldiers from the 214th DP Battalion of the DRC Armed Forces (FARDC) on a road between Bulongo and Beni, North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on December 17, 2024. Photo: AFP

Displaced people arrive by boat at the Nzulo port, near Goma, North Kivu province, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua

Uruguayan peacekeepers of MONUSCO in Nzulo, DRC, on Saturday. Photo: AFP

Rwanda-backed rebels say they plan to take fight to DR Congo’s capital

Members of the M23 rebel group in Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo: Reuters

Civilians walk past abandoned military uniforms in Goma. Photo: Reuters

M23 rebels escort government soldiers and police who surrendered to an undisclosed location in Goma. Photo: AP

Congo: M23 rebels advance as UN reports executions and rapes

A member of the M23 armed group stands guard as residents come out to celebrate the takeover of the city by the M23 at the Governor’s office compound in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

President of Zimbabwe and chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Emmerson Mnangagwa. Photo: EPA-EFE

Empty ammunition crates lie on the street next to an abandoned bullet-riddled military truck of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), in Goma on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Congolese Major-General Somo Kakule Evariste on the day he assumed office as the new military governor of North Kivu province, on Friday. Photo: Reuters

News

World

The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has rapidly seized swathes of territory in an offensive that has left thousands dead


The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has rapidly seized swathes of territory in an offensive that has left thousands dead.


War and conflict

Diplomacy

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Rwanda