UN chief calls for Rwandan forces to leave DRC as rebels press offensive | Armed Groups News

Antonio Guterres urges the M23 to stop immediately from all hostilities, as thousands of civilians from Goma fled in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

United Nations President Antonio Guterres called on the Rwandan forces to withdraw from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and stop the support of the M23 fighters who advance in the main city of Guma in the east of the country.

His spokesman Stephen Dujarric said in a statement on Sunday:

“M23 calls for immediately all the hostile measures and withdrawal from the occupied areas. The defense forces in Rwanda also calls for support to M23 and withdrawing from the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the United Nations are accused of Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels (March 23), an accusation that Kigali denies.

At a meeting of the United Nations Security Council in emergency situations later on Sunday, the Democratic Republic of the Congo demanded the sanctions against Rwanda, saying that its forces had crossed their lands while it was “declaring war.”

“More Rwandan forces crossed the twelfth and thirteenth border employees between Juma (in DRC) and Gisenyi (in Rwanda), and our lands entered in broad daylight in an open and thoughtful violation of our national sovereignty,” he said.

She said: “This is a front attack, a declaration of war that is no longer hiding behind diplomatic pieces,” and called on the Security Council to “impose targeted sanctions, including the freezing of assets and the travel ban not only against a specific members of the leadership chain of the Rwandan armed forces, but also against decision makers Politicians responsible for this aggression.

France and the United Kingdom also pressed Rwanda about its role in the last fighting throughout the city of Juma in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The United Nations Ambassador to France called on Rwanda to withdraw its forces from the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while the United Kingdom called for the end of the attacks on peacekeepers by the M23 rebels receiving support from Rwanda.

The meeting was held one day before the planned after three United Nations peacekeeping forces were killed from Uruguay and South Africa in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

South African and United Nations authorities said seven other South Africa soldiers and three Malawi on a separate mission of South Africa were killed this week.

The rebels approach Goma

On Sunday, M23 fighters in Guma closed, forcing thousands of civilians to flee flights from the local airport, where he fought government forces to prevent the rebels from seizing the city.

The M23 rebel movement made a rapid progress this month in the eastern metal borders in DRC, on which the conflict depends, which raised fears that the fighting could ripen into a regional war.

The M23 Fighters started moving to Goma, the capital of North Kivu and a home to about a million people, earlier this week and pledged to seize the city.

Residents told Reuters that the shooting could be heard fire and artillery on the outskirts of the city since early Sunday, which led to panic in some areas.

By mid -afternoon, the rebels were approaching the Juma airport, two government soldiers told the agency.

Airport officials said that flights were no longer operating. On Sunday, the United Nations told the employees in Ghauma not to go to the airport and stay protected.

Democratic Republic of the Congo I cut off All diplomatic relations with Rwanda amid the rebel attack this week.

The Eastern Congo is still a box of rebel and fighters in the wake of two consecutive regional wars resulting from genocide in Rwanda in 1994.

Three years after their current struggle, the rebels now control more Congolese lands than ever.

The M23, the latest in a long series of rebel movements led by Tursi-it says it is present to protect the ethnic Tutsi population in DRC.