M23 rebels claim control of key Congolese city of Goma
President accuses Rwanda of orchestrating insurgency to grab region's mineral wealth
Rebels widely believed to be backed by Rwanda claimed control of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday, parading through the frontier city of one million people past UN peacekeepers who did nothing to stop them.
Hundreds of fighters from the M23 group entered Goma after days of clashes with UN-backed Congolese soldiers that forced tens of thousands of residents to flee. A senior UN source said international peacekeepers had given up defending the city after the Congolese troops evacuated.
"There is no army left in the town, not a soul. Once they were in the town what could we do? It could have been very serious for the population," he said.
The rebellion has aggravated tensions between Congo and its neighbour Rwanda, which Kinshasa's government says is orchestrating the insurgency as a means of grabbing the region's mineral wealth.
Rwanda denies the assertion. However, Congolese Information Minister Lambert Mende ruled out talks with the rebels, suggesting they were proxies of the Rwandan government.
"We will continue [resisting] until Rwanda has been pushed out of our country … There will be absolutely no negotiations with M23," Mende said. Kinshasa would talk only directly with Rwanda, he said.
UN experts say Rwanda, a militarily capable neighbour that has intervened in Congo over the past 18 years, is behind the M23 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.