Sawt Falasteen - DR Congo leader vows 'vigorous' response as Rwanda-backed fighters advance

The Rwanda-backed M23's capture of most of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, in recent days is a dramatic escalation of a decade-long campaign that has seen it seize swathes of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

It is one of a string of rival armed groups in eastern DRC that has been plagued by internal and cross-border violence for the past three decades.

The violent uptick has rattled the continent, with regional blocs in Eastern and Southern Africa calling emergency summits, and the UN, United States, China and European Union urging an end to fighting.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot arrived in the DRC capital Kinshasa on Thursday, Congolese government sources told AFP. He is due to meet President Felix Tshisekedi, according to a source at the presidency.

Tshisekedi, in his first remarks since the latest crisis began, said in a late-night address that a "vigorous and coordinated response against these terrorists and their sponsors is under way".

He blasted the "silence and inaction" of the international community, calling it an "affront" in the face of an "unprecedented worsening of the security situation" that could lead "straight to an escalation" in the broader Great Lakes region.

Local sources told AFP late Wednesday that Kigali-backed fighters were advancing on a new front and had seized two districts in South Kivu province.

The Congolese army has yet to make a statement about the M23 advances.

After days of intense clashes that left more than 100 dead and nearly 1,000 wounded, according to an AFP tally from overflowing hospitals, calm returned to Goma as residents began venturing from their homes.

"Today we are not afraid," Goma resident Jean de Dieu told AFP by telephone from the city of roughly one million people, wedged between Lake Kivu and the Rwandan border.

- 'Direct engagement' -

Tshisekedi declined to attend crisis talks with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame on Wednesday.

Following the virtual summit, the regional East African Community bloc "called for peaceful settlement of the conflicts", urging the DRC to "directly engage with all stakeholders, including the M23".

In a late night tweet, Kagame warned South African President Cyril Ramaphosa that his country was "in no position to take on the role of a peacemaker or mediator".

Thirteen South African soldiers have been killed in the past week in the DRC where they were part of a UN peacekeeping force as well as the Southern African Development Community's Mission in DRC (SAMIDRC).

Kagame said the SAMIDRC "is not a peacekeeping force, and it has no place in this situation".

The 16-nation Southern African Development Community will hold a special summit on the crisis on Friday in the Zimbabwean capital.

Angola, which has mediated a ceasefire between the DRC army and M23 in the past, has also called for the Congolese and Rwandan leaders to meet urgently in Luanda.

- 'Cut off from world' -

M23 fighters and Rwandan troops entered Goma on Sunday and after clashes took control of the airport. AFP reporters said they were the only forces remaining in Goma's downtown.

Hundreds of Congolese soldiers and pro-Kinshasa militiamen, unarmed and wearing white headbands, were marched through the city centre by M23 fighters, a security source said.

There was also widespread looting, AFP journalists observed.

Student Merdi Kambelenge told AFP that while the situation had "stabilised", the lack of electricity meant "we're cut off from the world".

The offensive has heightened an already dire humanitarian crisis in the region, causing food and water shortages and forcing half a million people from their homes this month, the United Nations said.

Protesters in the capital Kinshasa attacked various embassies on Tuesday, accusing countries of not stepping in to halt the chaos in the east.

Calm was restored after officials banned all further demonstrations.

- M23 advance 'will continue' -

The UN, US, China and European Union have all called on Rwanda to withdraw its forces from the region.

But Rwanda's ambassador-at-large for the Great Lakes region, Vincent Karega, told AFP the M23 advance "will continue".

It was possible the fighters could push beyond the country's east -- even to Kinshasa, he added.

DRC is rich in gold and other minerals such as cobalt, coltan, tantalum and tin used in batteries and electronics worldwide.

Kinshasa has accused Rwanda of waging the offensive to profit from the region's mineral wealth -- a claim backed by UN experts who say Kigali has thousands of troops in its neighbour and "de facto control" over the M23.

Kagame has never admitted military involvement, saying Rwanda's aim is to destroy a DRC-based armed group, the FDLR, created by former Hutu leaders who massacred Tutsis during the genocide.

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A.AlHaj--SF-PST