Congo’s M23 Rebels Take Control of Airport

By Staff, Agencies

United Nations confirmed that fighters from the M23 rebel group, which is carrying out a major offensive in the Democratic Republic of the Congo [DR Congo], have taken control of an airport in the eastern city of Goma.

The move on Tuesday comes a day after the militants, allegedly backed by Rwanda, announced they had captured Goma, the capital and largest city of the North Kivu Province, in the worst escalation of a decades-long conflict between the rebels and the government.

A UN secretary-general spokesman reportedly said, “As far as we know the M23 forces control the airport and there are real risks of breakdown of law and order in the city, given the proliferation of weapons.”

“UN peacekeeping personnel and troops have largely been forced to shelter in their bases,” he added.

A security source clarified that “More than 1,200 Congolese soldiers have surrendered and are confined to the [UN base] at the airport.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that the violence could cause deadly viruses, including Ebola samples held in a laboratory in Goma, to escape amid reports of raids on medical infrastructure.

The African Union’s peace and security commissioner, Bankole Adeoye, asked the M23 in a statement on Tuesday following a meeting, to lay down its arms. The official condemned the “violence by M23 and all other negative forces” and called for “full respect of DR Congo’s sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity.”