Rwanda -backed rebels announce the arrest of the main city in the eastern Congo

A rebel militia, with the support of Rwanda, announced the seizure of the city of Juma in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, a great victory for the group and one of the most important escalation in the conflict between the two countries in the years.

The militia, known as M23, was briefly for a long time, in 2012, then defeated and placed asleep nearly a decade. It has now returned back, with the aim of occupying the region in the long term and exploiting its rare minerals, according to United Nations experts.

This time, the M23 seems to be in a stronger position to maintain Juma, a city mainly consisting of people who left their homes in terrorism and they will now have to live under the rule of one of the armed groups who fled.

M23 spokesman Declare The “liberation of the city of Goma” in a post on X, saying that Congolese military personnel had to hand their arms to the United Nations and gather in a stadium before three in the morning, there was no confirmation that was completed yet, there, there, and there, and there, and there,, There, there, there were reports of shooting in the city until Monday morning.

The conflict in the Eastern Congo – a Michigan -size region – bearing the name of the World War in Africa. He has been going on since the nineties, and has participated in dozens of armed groups, including M23 currently dominant.

The rebels are planning to occupy the region and exploit it in the long run, according to the United Nations and the United States, which says the group is funded and directed by its younger neighbor in the Congo. Rwanda denies these accusations.

Rebels Apply to GomaThat started an attack in the area that was launched this month, rapidly escalated over the past three weeks, prompting people to flee to the city.

On Sunday morning, thousands of people arrived in Goma from the north of the city, where some of the few properties that managed to seize a piece of fabric associated with their front, while others carry children only a few days. Many of them have already been displaced and they were fleeing the bombs that fell near the camps. Others left their villages, which took place in the shooting between the M23 and the Congolese armed forces.

The United Nations said that the camps on the outskirts of Guma, which hosted more than 300,000 people, were completely emptied within a few hours.

On Friday, the military ruler of the north of Kivu, which was the province of Juma, was the capital, was deadly in the battlefield, according to a spokesman for the Congolese military. The circumstances of his death remained mysterious, but the spokesman said that the ruler, General Peter Serimmami, died while he was evacuating Kinshasa, the capital of the Congo.

On Saturday, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Goma evacuated many of its employees from the city, and placed them on the buses to the airport with plans to travel to ENTEBBE, in the neighboring Uganda.

In 2012, Rwanda was intense international pressure to stop supporting the M23, and as a result, the militia was defeated the following year. Experts said it is unclear whether this pressure could be called again. Rwanda has built its relations with Western countries 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 of Rwanda condemned the actions of Rwanda, but they stopped calling for sanctions. Bento Keita, head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Congo, told the meeting that three peacekeepers were killed in an attempt to protect Goma and a nearby town, Ski, from M23’s progress. She also said that the rebels closed the airspace on Goma.

“In other words, we are trapped,” she said.

As the rebels advanced on Goma, the human situation has already become worse. More than 400,000 people have fled their homes since the beginning of this year, according to the United Nations Refugee AgencyWhere the M23 rebels attacked new areas of the Northern KIVU province, where Guma, and South Kivu. They joined 4.6 million people who were already going down in the eastern Congo.

However, people are poured into Goma, often in long columns.

She pushed some wheels with some of the rescue properties. Some had bikes or holding the ranks on their heads and back. Many of them were wounded by life.

Myriam Favier, Chairman of the ICRC for the Red Cross, said on Friday that on Friday, more than 100 people arrived within 24 hours in the hospital where she worked-usually the number of people praying in a whole month.

She said, “They come from everywhere.” “They come from all fronts.”

Mrs. Favah described the medical staff who treat patients with mortar wounds or fragments and said that the number of minors with serious injuries has increased significantly. She invited those who use heavy artillery to reduce their attacks, saying that many people were arriving in the head and shock in the chest that the hospital has run out of the family and had to put patients on ranks in the car park.

Through Guma, schools were converted into shelters for the displaced. Families store the supplies that they could so do not have to go out.

Many people who fled to a haven in Goma, knowing that he was in the scenes of the rebels, but had no other option.

When the city fell into the hands of M23, they hid where they could, and many of them are hungry, cold or bad. Some sleep on the street, others in hospitals.

Solang Safi Ndakwinja was trying to care for her three daughters, who were severely injured by a bomb that exploded at the army checkpoint.

“I hope God will help us,” said Mrs. Nadakwinga. “For the rest, we don’t know what will happen.”

Elian Pelitier It contributed to the reports from Dakar and Senegal and Diclican Walsh From Nairobi, Kenya.