By Yassin Kombi and Sonia Rolley
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) – Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said he agreed with the U.S. government on the need for a ceasefire in eastern Congo but gave no indication of bowing to calls for Rwandan troops and the M23 rebels they support to withdraw from Goma.
The rebels marched into Goma, the largest city in Congo’s east, on Monday in the worst escalation of a long-running conflict in more than a decade, leaving hospitals overwhelmed treating patients with gunshot, mortar and shrapnel wounds.
The U.S. urged the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday to consider unspecified measures to halt the rebel offensive, which has forced tens of thousands from their homes. The council has the authority to impose sanctions.
In Goma, the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) North Kivu province, shops and houses had been looted but, after several days of intense fighting, the city was largely calm apart from some sporadic gunfire on Wednesday, residents said.
“Had a productive conversation with Secretary (of State Marco) Rubio on the need to ensure a ceasefire in Eastern DRC and address the root causes of the conflict once and for all,” Kagame wrote on X on Wednesday.
Rubio told Kagame that Washington was “deeply troubled” by the escalation in the three-decade conflict, which is rooted in the long fallout from the Rwandan genocide and the struggle for control of Congo’s mineral resources.
Congo and the head of U.N. peacekeeping have said Rwandan troops are present in Goma, backing up their M23 allies. Rwanda has said it is defending itself against the threat from Congolese militias, without directly commenting on whether its troops have crossed the border.
“The Secretary urged an immediate ceasefire in the region, and for all parties to respect sovereign territorial integrity,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
The Congolese and Rwandan army exchanged fire across their shared border on Monday, UN sources said, as the rebels tried to consolidate control of Goma, a gateway for the trade of valuable tin and tantalum ores, for the second time in 13 years.
SPORADIC GUNFIRE, LOOTING
At a stadium in Goma on Tuesday, hundreds of unarmed government soldiers and militia fighters sat on the football pitch while others lined up in what the M23 fighters described as a disarmament process, according to an unverified video seen by Reuters.
“Sporadic explosions and gunfire are still heard in the outlying districts of Goma. Quiet night after the rebels took over the city centre but looting of businesses. Airport, internet, electricity and water cut off,” one resident said in a phone message.
M23 is the latest in a string of ethnic Tutsi-led, Rwandan-backed insurgencies that have roiled Congo since the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda 30 years ago, when Hutu extremists killed Tutsis and moderate Hutus, and then were toppled by the Tutsi-led forces led by Kagame.
Rwanda says some of the ousted perpetrators have been sheltering in Congo since the genocide, forming militias with alliances with the Congolese government, and pose a threat to Congolese Tutsis and Rwanda itself.
Congo rejects Rwanda’s complaints, and says Rwanda has used its proxy militias to control and loot lucrative minerals such as coltan, which is used in smartphones.
In the Congolese capital Kinshasa, 1,600 km (1,000 miles) west of Goma, protesters attacked a U.N. compound and embassies including those of Rwanda, France and the United States on Tuesday, angered at what they said was foreign interference.
(Reporting by Congo newsroom; Writing by Hereward Holland, Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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