Clashes kill 17 in DR Congo's Goma

Artillery fire and gunshots echoed across the major hub in the DRC's mineral-rich east, as Kigali said five civilians were killed across the Rwandan border.

There were conflicting accounts over how much of Goma remained under Congolese control after the M23 armed group and Rwandan soldiers entered the city center on Jan. 26 night.

The M23 resurfaced in late 2021 after years of dormancy and began seizing large swathes of North Kivu province.

But fighting with the Congolese military has intensified since early this year, in the latest chapter of the internal and cross-border violence which has dogged the eastern DRC for three decades.

Besides the more than 1 million who call Goma home, the provincial capital is host to nearly as many displaced by fighting.

Hospitals in the city were on Jan. 27 treating 367 people wounded in the clashes, while tolls obtained by AFP listed at least 17 people dead.

"Our surgical teams are now working around the clock to cope with the massive influx of wounded," Myriam Favier, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in North Kivu province, told AFP.

Most of those affected were civilians, Favier said.

The fighting has intensified a humanitarian crisis, displacing half a million people just this month, according to U.N. refugee chief Filippo Grandi. The U.N. has also warned the conflict could spark a regional war.

The DRC government said it "continues to work to avoid carnage and the loss of human life" in Goma, spokesman Patrick Muyaya said on X.

Source: Reuters