Nearly 3,000 people have been killed in fighting between the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) rebel group and the Congolese army for control of Goma, a key eastern city and the capital of North Kivu province, a senior United Nations official in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, DR Congo) said on Wednesday. The fighting has displaced at least 700,000 people in Goma and surrounding areas since early January, creating a dire humanitarian situation.
Vivian van de Perre, the deputy head of the United Nations mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), told reporters in a video call from Goma that UN teams were "actively helping" the M23 to collect the dead from the city's streets. She said 2,000 bodies have been recovered so far and 900 more are in hospital morgues.
“We expect this number to go up,” she said. “There are still many decomposing bodies in many areas. The World Health Organization [WHO] is really worried about what kind of epidemic outbreaks that can contribute to.”
UN agencies say at least 2,880 people have been injured in the conflict. The Red Cross said Monday that it would need four more days to collect the bodies. Due to a lack of morgue space, all bodies will be buried after identification, the organization said.
In early January, the M23 broke a ceasefire agreement signed last July between DRC and neighboring Rwanda and launched a major offensive along the eastern edge of DR Congo with the support of the Rwandan army.
The DRC government has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group and that Rwandan troops are fighting alongside the M23, a claim denied by Rwanda but backed by UN experts. Large numbers of Rwandan troops have crossed the border to reinforce the M23 offensive, raising fears of a full-scale war between the two East African neighbors.
On January 27, the M23 said it had captured Goma, currently home to more than 3 million people, including nearly 1 million displaced from other conflict areas.
Fighting between the M23, backed by the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF), and the Congolese army and allied groups has displaced hundreds of thousands of people in North and South Kivu provinces since the beginning of the year.
Kigali, in turn, accuses Kinshasa of collaborating with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Hutu armed group with ties to the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, a charge denied by DRC.
Van de Perre said Goma is “firmly under control at the moment of M23.” The Congolese government has officially designated the M23 as a terrorist organization, while the United Nations and the United States classify it as an armed rebel group.
“All exit routes from Goma are under their control, and the airport, also under M23 control, is closed until further notice,” she told reporters.
“The escalating violence has led to immense human suffering, displacement and a growing humanitarian crisis.”
She said nearly 2,000 civilians are sheltering at UN peacekeeping bases in Goma and that “our bases are full, full, full.” The UN official said they cannot handle any more people, and they are concerned that the overcrowding and unsanitary conditions could lead to disease outbreaks at the bases.
Water and electricity were cut off to the city during the intense fighting, but have been partially restored. Markets are also reopening, but van de Perre said prices have skyrocketed.
She said peacekeepers with MONUSCO, are operating under limited movements imposed by the M23. They are not patrolling the city, but they are able to resupply their bases.
“Any movement we have to announce 48 hours in advance,” she said. Asked about reports that M23 rebels have suspended some aid work and are interfering with the work of journalists, she said that there are indications of harassment, but that she did not know the extent of it.
The M23 is reported to be progressing toward the South Kivu capital of Bukavu. Van de Perre said heavy fighting has been reported along the main route between Kinyezire and Nyabibwe.
“In Bukavu, tensions are rising as the M23 moves closer, just 50 kilometers north of the city,” she said.
MONUSCO has been in the process of withdrawing its peacekeepers at the request of the Congolese government. It left South Kivu province entirely in June.
The M23 declared a unilateral ceasefire on Tuesday in areas under its control, citing humanitarian reasons. The armed group also halted its military advance in other areas, notably around Bukavu, where M23 fighters are stationed a few kilometers from the town.
The ceasefire remains fragile, as other armed groups in eastern Congo could disrupt the lull in fighting. Eastern Congo is home to more than 130 armed groups fighting for land, resources and control of the area's resource-rich mines.
“While the February 4 unilateral ceasefire announced by the M23 offers assurances that Bukavu will not be taken, we are gravely concerned for Kavumu airport, which is critical for ongoing civilian and humanitarian use,” van de Perre said of South Kivu’s airport.
The M23 ceasefire came hours after the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) agreed to hold a joint summit to discuss the conflict in Congo, in hopes of bridging differences between Kinshasa and Rwanda.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who boycotted an EAC summit last week, is expected to attend the regional summit on Friday and Saturday, as is Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Tanzania will host the meeting, but some leaders may participate online.
Hassane Hamdou, the Norwegian Refugee Council's (NRC) regional director for Central and West Africa, said the ceasefire is only a first step, as it will take a lasting peace to bring relief to eastern Congo and allow life-saving aid to reach those in desperate need.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, said UN agencies are assessing the situation and developing a plan to distribute humanitarian aid to the hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Congo and neighboring countries.
Relief efforts are hampered by access constraints.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is calling for the urgent reopening of Goma airport to facilitate the evacuation of the injured, the delivery of humanitarian supplies and the movement of staff. Aid agencies also need roads and transport links between Goma and the rest of the country.
The Humanitarian Coordinator in DRC, Bruno Lemarquis, also urged in a statement on Tuesday for the urgent reopening of Goma airport. Lemarquis stressed that the airport is a lifeline and that the survival of thousands of people depends on its reopening.
OCHA warns that civilians continue to bear the brunt of the crisis. Humanitarian efforts are currently focused on reducing the risk of epidemics and providing emergency relief. Humanitarian workers also continue to carry out assessments, including in and around Goma.
Although some water and electricity services have been partially restored in Goma, the UN says much more is needed to ensure adequate services. But the capacity of humanitarian agencies has been affected by the recent violence, with looting of humanitarian facilities.
On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Guterres appealed for peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo..
“It is time for mediation. It is time to end this crisis. It is time for peace,” Guterres told reporters. “The stakes are too high.”
Guterres said hundreds of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee their homes, and there are credible reports of grave human rights abuses, including rape.
“The humanitarian situation in and around Goma is perilous,” he said.
Guterres spoke a day ahead of the planned crisis summit in Tanzania. The Secretary-General also said he would travel to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, next week to participate in an African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council summit to discuss DRC.
“As the summit in Tanzania gets under way, and as I prepare to leave for Addis Ababa, my message is clear: Silence the guns. Stop the escalation,” he said.
The UN chief insisted that there is no military solution to the crisis and called on signatories to the Peace, Security and Cooperation (PSC) Framework for the DRC and the region to honor their commitments.
Also on Thursday, UN-appointed experts expressed grave concern about the urgent protection needs and dire living conditions of displaced civilians in the east of the country.
“Despite the recent unilateral ceasefire, displaced persons have no safe haven left as the humanitarian crisis in eastern DRC takes a deeply alarming turn, in which women and girls are disproportionately represented,” the experts said.
The independent experts called on the M23 to halt further military advances, particularly towards Bukavu, where thousands of displaced people have sought refuge. They urged the Government of DRC to step up its efforts to protect and assist displaced persons, and echoed the Secretary-General's calls for Rwanda to cease its support for the M23 and withdraw from DRC territory.
“All parties must return to the negotiating table in good faith, for the future of regional peace and security,” the experts said.
Even before the latest eruption of violence, the Democratic Republic of the Congo faced one of the world's largest and most under-reported humanitarian crises, characterized by widespread human rights violations and massive forced displacement.
DRC has a population of approximately 118 million, with an estimated 21 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2025, one of the highest numbers in the world. At least 8 million people in the country have been forced to flee their homes. Before the escalation, 4.6 million people were already internally displaced in the two eastern provinces of North and South Kivu.
The provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri have been plagued by violence for decades as non-state armed groups seek to gain control of the country's valuable mineral resources. Many of those forced to flee have been displaced several times.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.