At least 13 U.N. peacekeepers and other foreign soldiers were killed in heavy fighting near the city of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Sunday, as the M23 insurgent group closed in on the strategically vital city.
Panicked civilians fled, the international airport was shut down, and the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) held an emergency session to demand an end to the M23 offensive.
M23 – the March 23 Movement, a name that mocks a failed peace treaty signed on March 23, 2009 – is perhaps the most vicious and effective of several insurgent groups fighting for turf in the eastern DRC.
The Congolese government has long accused neighboring Rwanda of supporting M23 in a bid to destabilize the DRC and make it ripe for takeover. M23’s fighters are largely drawn from the Tutsi tribe, which is also the ethnic background of Rwanda’s authoritarian ruler Paul Kagame, who has now been in power for almost 25 years.
DRC forces have held M23 to a bloody stalemate east of Goma, the capital and largest city of North Kivu Province, ever since the insurgent group began a major offensive in 2022. The city’s defenses were bolstered by two international peacekeeping missions: MONUSCO from the United Nations and the South African Development Community (SADC). The DRC government also hired mercenary groups from Europe to back up its military forces.
M23 intensified its effort to capture Goma at the beginning of 2025, grabbing a few nearby towns and setting up the heavy attack that began on Friday, when the military governor of North Kivu province was killed in battle. On Saturday, M23 demanded the surrender of all DRC troops and peacekeeping forces and said it would control Goma by Monday night.
UNSC confirmed on Sunday that 13 peacekeepers were killed in the fighting on Sunday – nine from South Africa’s SADC mission, plus three Malawians and one Uruguayan working for MONUSCO.
The 15-member UNSC issued a statement on Sunday demanding an immediate end to the M23 offensive and urged Rwanda and the DRC to return to peace talks.
The U.S., France, and U.K. condemned Rwanda’s support for M23 at the meeting. Acting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Dorothy Shea said Rwanda was using GPS jamming and spoofing equipment to aid the rebel advance.
Shea said this electronic warfare activity was an “imminent risk to civil aviation safety and negatively impact[s] the delivery of humanitarian assistance to populations in need.”
UNSC’s demands were not heeded. Congolese and Rwandan troops reportedly fired on each other across the border as the battle for Goma raged and, when M23 forces broke into the city on Monday, they were accompanied by Rwandan troops.
The DRC government confirmed the presence of invading Rwandan forces in a statement on Monday, after severing diplomatic ties with Rwanda and withdrawing all diplomatic staff. Rwanda also withdrew its diplomats from the DRC capital of Kinshasa.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday said he was “deeply concerned by the escalating violence.” Guterres called on Rwanda to withdraw all troops from North Kivu province immediately.
Gunfire and heavy artillery bombardment were reported from several districts of Goma on Monday, as DRC troops and their allies from a loosely organized militia known as the Wazalendo fought to hold their positions.
Hundreds of civilians who sought refuge in Goma after being displaced from their eastern homes fled the city in panic, their prospects grim as the fall of Goma could spell the end of organized humanitarian efforts in the area. The U.N. evacuated diplomats and non-essential staff from Goma just before its international airport shut down.
Sky News reported that one of its teams in Goma was attacked on Sunday by refugees who mistook the news crew for Rwandans. U.N. staffers said they were instructed to stay indoors as stories of both M23 atrocities and ugly outbursts from terrified civilian mobs proliferated. An aid worker told Sky News that M23 is forcing civilians to carry their ammunition as they sweep into the city.
An M23 leader told Al Jazeera on Monday that his forces were in control of Goma and it was only a matter of time before government troops and their militia allies surrendered or fled the city. Uruguayan peacekeepers working for MONUSCO said on Sunday night that some members of the DRC military have indeed surrendered to the rebels.
“Goma’s capture by the M23 is a massive setback for the DRC authorities. You have the volcano on one side, the lake on the other, and it’s in extremely close proximity to the Rwandan border. That means that once you have lost Goma, it’s going to be extremely difficult for the DRC army to recapture the city militarily,” Control Risks analyst Vincent Rouget told Al Jazeera.
The Congolese government said on Monday that Rwanda assisting M23 with the capture of Goma amounted to a “declaration of war.”
