by Xinhua writer Shi Yu

KINSHASA, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Felix Tshisekedi, the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), promised late Wednesday a "vigorous response" to advances of March 23 Movement (M23) rebels in the eastern DRC, amid peace efforts by regional groups.

VIGOROUS RESPONSE

In his address on national television, Tshisekedi said "a response is underway" to reclaim every inch of DRC territory. The M23 has claimed to have taken control of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, a regional hub.

He said that in addition to military efforts supported by the UN peacekeeping mission and Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces, the DRC remains engaged diplomatically, particularly through the Luanda Process, a peace mechanism initiated and led by Angolan President Joao Lourenco.

Tshisekedi met Lourenco early Wednesday during a visit to the Angolan capital. He called for unity among all Congolese and pledged to cut government spending to fund military operations. "The DRC will never back down. I make this promise to you: I will never abandon you."

Since Sunday evening, violent hostilities have been observed throughout Goma, which has about 1 million residents, including over 700,000 internally displaced people living on the outskirts in already difficult conditions.

According to sources, M23 rebels seized several key facilities Monday, including the airport, the port, and a local DRC army base.

On Wednesday, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the situation in Goma is calmer but still tense. Continued clashes were reported in surrounding areas, including Sake, a strategic town to the northwest of Goma.

Sources said that the border with Rwanda has been gradually reopened. There are reports that M23 rebels have advanced toward the neighboring province of South Kivu, whose capital city Bukavu is under imminent threat. It lies on the other side of Lake Kivu, facing Goma in the north.

MEDIATION EFFORTS

After emergency meetings at the UN Security Council and an extraordinary ministerial meeting of the African Union, an emergency summit of the East African Community (EAC) was held virtually Wednesday. The meeting called for an unconditional ceasefire and facilitated humanitarian access.

"The summit called on all parties to the conflict in eastern DRC to cease hostilities and observe an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian access to the affected population," the leaders said in a statement issued in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

President Tshisekedi of the DRC, an EAC member state, did not take part in the summit convened by Kenyan President William Ruto, who rotates as the chairman of the EAC.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir attended.

The DRC has accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels, an accusation Rwanda denies. Kigali accuses the DRC army of supporting and collaborating with remnants of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a group allegedly responsible for the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

Last December, a peace summit under the Luanda Process, where a peace agreement was expected between Tshisekedi and Kagame, was canceled at the last minute.

Kinshasa, rejecting any direct negotiation with the M23, hinted at possible channels by reactivating the Nairobi Process, an EAC-led parallel peace mechanism brokered by former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. The M23 was excluded from the Nairobi Process by Kinshasa in 2022.

A joint summit of the EAC and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which has also been involved in the eastern DRC, is expected to be held in the coming days to deliberate on the way forward.

The SADC was due to start an extraordinary summit Thursday in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, to discuss the situation in the eastern DRC, according to an SADC Secretariat statement released Wednesday.

HUMANITARIAN TOLL

On Wednesday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that violence and looting of humanitarian warehouses continued in Goma, impacting the ability of aid workers to respond and putting them at risk.

OCHA said that since the escalation of fighting, its humanitarian partners have recorded the wounding of more than 2,000 people. Some bodies were left in the streets, while water and electricity supplies remained cut off since Sunday.

"We call for the swift resumption of these services, as well as for the protection of humanitarian warehouses and the facilitation of medical evacuations for people who have been injured," said Dujarric, the chief spokesman for the UN secretary-general, in a briefing Wednesday.

OCHA said the Goma airport's closure means the suspension of the flow of humanitarian cargo and rotations of humanitarian personnel.

Most roads connecting Goma to the rest of the country are also closed. However, the border with Rwanda is open, and additional humanitarian teams can enter the DRC.

"Humanitarian Coordinator Bruno Lemarquis calls on all parties to respect international humanitarian law and to end the violence targeting civilians," OCHA said. "He reiterates his call for the establishment of a secure humanitarian corridor to guarantee unhindered humanitarian access and the creation of a border crossing to facilitate the movement of people fleeing violence."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Sunday that he was deeply concerned by the escalating violence in the eastern DRC and reiterated his strongest condemnation of the M23's ongoing offensive and advances toward Goma.

Guterres called on the M23 to immediately cease all hostile actions and withdraw from occupied areas.

More than 400,000 people have been displaced since the start of 2025 in the eastern DRC, according to the UN. Enditem

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