At least 773 killed in DR Congo as M23 Rebels Seize Goma

At least 773 people have been killed in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) largest city of Goma and its vicinity in a week, amid fighting with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. Authorities said, the rebels captured the city in an escalation of a decade-long conflict.

    

These figures remain provisional because the rebels asked the population to clean the streets of Goma. Congolese government



spokesman told a briefing yesterday in capital Kinshasa that the death toll could be higher.

According to United Nations experts, M23 is the most potent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in DRC’s mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits critical to much of the world’s technology. They are backed by about 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda.