Star Metro - Emergency UN meeting to convene as deadly fighting escalates in DR Congo

The resource-rich eastern provinces of North and South Kivu have been plagued by conflicts for three decades, with the Rwanda-backed M23 emerging as one of the most powerful armed groups in recent years.

It has seized vast swathes of the east of the DRC since 2021, displacing thousands and triggering a humanitarian crisis.

After peace talks between Rwandan President Paul Kagame and DRC's Etienne Tshisekedi were cancelled in mid-December, the rebels have steadily advanced toward Goma, the capital of North Kivu and a key city home to more than a million people.

On Saturday, three countries -- South Africa, Malawi and Uruguay -- announced the deaths of some of their soldiers serving as peacekeepers in the conflict zone, 13 in all.

The escalation in fighting prompted an emergency UN Security Council meeting, originally set for Monday, to be moved up to Sunday.

Congolese army spokesman General Sylvain Ekenge told journalists his country's armed forces were working to "push back the enemy".

"Rwanda is determined to seize the city of Goma," he said.

The DRC announced it was pulling its diplomats from Kigali in a letter to Rwanda's embassy in Kinshasa.

Urging the rebels to halt their advance, the European Union's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said "Rwanda must cease its support for the M23 and withdraw".

"The EU strongly condemns Rwanda's military presence in the DRC as a clear violation of international law, the UN charter and the territorial integrity of the DRC," she said.

The African Union and French President Emmanuel Macron -- who spoke in separate telephone calls with both Rwandan President Kagame and DRC's Tshisekedi -- also added their voices to calls for an immediate halt to the fighting.

- 'Risk of regional war' -

In Goma, artillery detonations in the distance resonated as far as the city centre.

An AFP reporter saw a burned-out, smoking armoured vehicle of the UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO on the road between Goma and Sake, scene of intense fighting in recent days.

South Africa's defence ministry said Saturday that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) "lost nine members by Friday".

Seven of the dead were serving in the regional force sent by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and two were UN peacekeepers, it added.

A Malawian army spokesman said three of its soldiers with the SADC force also died during clashes, while Uruguay's military announced that one of its members serving with the UN peacekeepers had been killed and four others wounded.

Some 15,000 peacekeepers are in the DRC.

The United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) said its Quick Reaction Forces had "been actively engaged in intense combat" with its heavy artillery firing against M23 positions.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed fears on Thursday that the fighting could aggravate "the risk of a regional war".

- 'Harmful consequences' -

Since the beginning of January, about 400,000 people have been forced to flee the fighting, according to the UN.

The UN has begun evacuating "non-essential" staff from Goma to neighbouring Uganda and to the Congolese capital Kinshasa.

Britain, the United States and France also have already asked their citizens to leave, and Germany followed suit Saturday.

The African Union urged all parties "to preserve the lives of civilians".

Angolan President Joao Lourenco, the African Union's mediator between Rwanda and the DRC, denounced "irresponsible actions by the M23 and its supporters" which would have "harmful consequences for regional security".

The conflict between the M23, supported by 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan soldiers, and the Congolese army has lasted for more than three years, worsening the chronic humanitarian crisis in the region.

In December, a planned meeting between Tshisekedi and Kagame as part of an Angola-led peace process was cancelled due to a lack of agreement.

On Saturday, Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said on social media platform X that "dialogue between the DRC government and the rebels from an aggrieved Congolese community that has been victim of systematic persecution is the only way to resolve this conflict".

T. MacDonald--SMC