Sawt Falasteen - Six peacekeepers killed as fighting rages in DRC

Fighting raged in the region despite calls from the international community for the Rwandan-backed M23 to halt its advance on Goma, the key city in the mineral-rich east and home to more than a million people.

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.

A political party in South Africa said three of that country's peacekeepers were killed and a further three from Malawi also died, according to a military spokesman.

In Goma, the main city of the restive North Kivu province, artillery detonations in the distance resonated as far as the city centre.

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

"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 African Union in a statement called for the "immediate cessation" of fighting and said it "urges the parties to preserve the lives of civilians".

- 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 to the capital Kinshasa, while Britain, the United States and France on Friday asked their citizens to leave Goma.

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

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 fighters attacked Sake, the DA said.

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

Malawian military spokesman Emmanuel Mlelemba told AFP of "the loss of three of our courageous soldiers who were part of the SADC Mission in the DRC".

- 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.

Diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis have so far failed.

In December, a planned meeting between DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame as part of an Angola-led peace process was cancelled at the last minute.

- Rwanda slams UN -

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 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.

The diplomatic temperature rose sharply Saturday as Rwanda slammed MONUSCO for what Kigali called "incendiary" language.

The UN force had called for "a sustainable and final solution to the conflict that has triggered massive displacement, humanitarian needs and human sufferings".

Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo on X described as "wrong" the use of the expression "final solution" -- a term used by Germany's Nazis to denote their historic genocide of Jews.

"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," Makolo added.

W.AbuLaban--SF-PST