Goma: The Rwanda-backed armed group M23 vowed on Thursday to “continue the march of liberation” to the D.R. Congo capital Kinshasa, as its fighters made further advances in the mineral-rich east of the country.

The group’s capture of most of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, is a dramatic escalation in a region that has seen decades of conflict involving multiple armed groups.

Rwanda says its primary interest is to eradicate fighters linked to the 1994 genocide but is accused of seeking to profit from the region’s reserves of minerals used in global electronics.

“We will continue the march of liberation all the way to Kinshasa,” Corneille Nangaa, head of a coalition of groups including the M23, told reporters in Goma.

“We are in Goma and we will not leave… for as long as the questions for which we took up arms have not been answered,” he said.

He went on to promise that the group would restore electricity and security in the city in the coming days, adding they would establish humanitarian corridors to help the displaced return. It comes after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi pledged to continue fighting in an address to the nation on Wednesday, promising that a “vigorous and coordinated response against these terrorists and their sponsors is under way”.

Local sources said that Kigali-backed fighters were advancing on a new front and had seized two districts in South Kivu province. The Congolese army has yet to make a statement about the M23 advances.

After days of intense clashes that left more than 100 dead and nearly 1,000 wounded, according to a tally, some Goma residents on Thursday ventured out to take stock.

Kagame directly criticised Tshisekedi at an online meeting of the regional East African Community bloc on Wednesday.

“We do not want to live under the thumb of these people,” one person, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

‘Direct engagement’

The UN, US, China and European Union have all called on Rwanda to withdraw its forces from the region. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot arrived in Rwanda on Thursday to ask President Paul Kagame to withdraw the troops, according to France’s foreign ministry. Barrot met with Tshisekedi in Kinshasa earlier in the day.

“Why do we leaders of our own countries accept this to go on forever and just accept that we should be manipulated by Tshisekedi or whoever is supporting him?” he asked.

Kagame also emphasised that “M23 are not Rwandans — they are Congolese”.

Earlier, Kagame warned South African President Cyril Rama­phosa that his country was “in no position to take on the role of a peacemaker or mediator”.

Thirteen South African soldiers have been killed in the past week in the DRC, part of a UN peacekeeping force as well as the Southern African Development Community’s Mission in DRC (SAMIDRC). “There is nothing left to eat, everything has been looted,” said Bosco, a resident who gave only one name.

Kagame said the SAMIDRC “is not a peacekeeping force, and it has no place in this situation”. The 16-nation Southern African Development Community will hold a special summit on the crisis on Friday in the Zimbabwean capital.

M23 fighters and Rwandan troops entered Goma on Sunday and after clashes took control of the airport, with reporters saying they were the only forces remaining downtown.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2025