Sawt Falasteen - S. African peacekeepers killed as fighting rages in DRC

Fighting raged in the region despite calls from the international community for the M23 to halt its advance on Goma, the key city in the east and home to over a million people.

After the failure of Angolan-led peace talks, the M23 and the Rwandan army have advanced in recent weeks towards Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province in DR Congo's perennially restive and mineral-rich east.

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.

Shops were open in Goma on Saturday and day-to-day activity appeared normal despite artillery detonations in the distance that resonated as far as the city centre.

Intense fighting has been raging since Thursday on several fronts less than 10 kilometres (six miles) around the virtually besieged city.

The European Union urged the M23 on Saturday to halt its advance and withdraw immediately.

"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," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.

"The city of Goma is under immense pressure. The threat by M23 to conquer Goma is unacceptable and has in itself grave humanitarian and security consequences on the ground," she said.

- UN evacuations -

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

The United Nations has begun to evacuate "non-essential" staff from Goma to neighbouring Uganda and the capital Kinshasa and Britain, the United States and France have asked their citizens to leave Goma immediately.

The United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) said its Quick Reaction Forces have "been actively engaged in intense combat".

"Over the past 48 hours, MONUSCO's heavy artillery has conducted firing missions against M23 positions", it said.

Some 15,000 peacekeepers are present in the DRC.

In South Africa, the political party Democratic Alliance said Saturday that three South African military peacekeepers had been killed and 18 injured in the fighting in DRC.

The soldiers were part of a mission sent by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional grouping. They were killed on Thursday when M23 rebels attacked Sake, the DA said.

A South African military spokesman and a SADC official in Botswana told AFP that they could not yet comment.

South Africa sent 2,900 troops to participate in the SADC's mission (SAMIDRC) in 2023.

- Emergency UN meeting -

The UN Security Council called an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the crisis.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday that he was "alarmed" by a resurgence of violence that could aggravate "the risk of a regional war".

More than a hundred people injured in the fighting around Goma since Thursday have been treated by medical teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Goma.

According to the UN, 400,000 people have been displaced by the fighting since the beginning of January.

Goma is at the epicentre of the violence that has rocked eastern DRC for 30 years.

The M23 -- March 23 Movement -- briefly occupied the city at the end of 2012.

But the Congolese army, with the support of MONUSCO and diplomatic pressure from the international community on Rwanda, recaptured the city shortly after.

- Lingering conflict -

Diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis have so fair failed.

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

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

The DRC accuses Rwanda of wanting to seize the riches of eastern Congo, which Kigali denies.

Turkey, very active on the African continent, offered on Thursday to lead a DRC-Rwanda mediation.

Half a dozen ceasefires and truces have already been declared in the region, then broken. The last ceasefire was signed at the end of July.

L.Hussein--SF-PST