Regional Leaders Hold Emergency Summit Over DR Congo Violence

Kenyan President William Ruto, who chairs the East African Community, has convened an emergency summit of regional leaders to discuss the escalating violence in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ruto said both President Felix Tshisekedi of the DR Congo and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame have agreed to attend Wednesday’s meeting.

The M23 rebels – advancing in eastern DRC – had earlier announced the capture of Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province. The group’s announcement came before the expiry of a deadline it had given the Congolese army and its allied militia groups in the area to surrounder.

Renewed fighting in the mineral-rich region has led to the deaths of hundreds of people, including North Kivu’s military governor, Peter Cirimwami. Regional leaders have called for talks between the rival sides to help bring an end to the violence.

The UN has expressed its “grave concern” over the safety and security of civilians as fighting intensified in the eastern parts of the country. The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said more than 400,000 people were displaced by the clashes, “almost doubling the number reported just last week”.

The Rwandan-backed rebels taking control of a key town near Goma heightened the “threat of a regional war”, the UN said.

A report by the Group of Experts – established by the UN Security Council to help monitor the conflict – confirmed the “presence of Rwandan troops on Congolese soil and continued support to the M23”.

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