(Reuters) – Clashes between pro-government forces and Rwanda-backed rebels reached Goma in east Congo, residents told Reuters on Saturday, as each side blamed the other for the worst violence in the area’s largest city since the rebels seized it in January.
The toll from the clashes was not immediately clear. A government statement on Saturday night said 52 people had been killed in and around Goma, though the figure could not be independently verified.
Residents reported gunfire and explosions into the pre-dawn hours. “We were sleeping when we heard several shots from different weapons, like rocket launchers,” a resident said.
After the fighting ended on Saturday, “I saw at least five injured and three dead fighters” in the city who appeared to be members of M23, the resident added.
The government statement blamed M23.
M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma posted on X that “calm reigns” in Goma after a “provocation” by elements of Congo’s military and pro-government militia fighters known as Wazalendo.
Jules Mulumba, a leader of Wazalendo, told Reuters the group was responsible. A Congolese army general also blamed Wazalendo.
A statement from Wazalendo said the violence came in response to attacks by Rwandan-backed fighters earlier in the week.
The United Nations and Western governments say Rwanda has provided arms and troops to the ethnic Tutsi-led M23.
Rwanda has denied backing M23. It says its military has acted in self-defence against Congo’s army and a Rwandan militia operating in east Congo that was founded by perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide.
President Felix Tshisekedi’s government and M23 have sent delegations to Doha for possible Qatar-mediated peace talks to hammer out a ceasefire.
M23’s rapid advance this year has left thousands of civilians dead, displaced hundreds of thousands more and given the rebels control over much of Congo’s eastern borderlands, an area rich in tin, gold and coltan.
(Reporting by Congo newsroom; Writing by Robbie Corey-Boulet; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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