Rwanda’s Kagame says he agrees with US on need for ceasefire in DRC

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame said he agreed with the US government on the need for a ceasefire in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but gave no indication of bowing to calls for Rwandan troops and the M23 rebels they support to withdraw from Goma.

The rebels marched into Goma, the largest city in the DRC's east, on Monday in the worst escalation of a long-running conflict in more than a decade, leaving hospitals overwhelmed treating patients with gunshot, mortar and shrapnel wounds.

On Tuesday the US urged the UN Security Council to consider unspecified measures to halt the rebel offensive, which has forced tens of thousands from their homes. The council has the authority to impose sanctions.

In Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, shops and houses had been looted but, after several days of intense fighting, the city was largely calm apart from sporadic gunfire on Wednesday, residents said.

“Had a productive conversation with US secretary [of state Marco] Rubio on the need to ensure a ceasefire in Eastern DRC and address the root causes of the conflict once and for all,” Kagame wrote on X on Wednesday.

Rubio told Kagame Washington was “deeply troubled” by the escalation in the three-decade conflict, which is rooted in the long fallout from the Rwandan genocide and the struggle for control of the DRC's mineral resources.

The DRC and the head of UN peacekeeping have said Rwandan troops are present in Goma, backing up their M23 allies. Rwanda has said it is defending itself against the threat from DRC militias, without directly commenting on whether its troops have crossed the border.

“The secretary urged an immediate ceasefire in the region, and for all parties to respect sovereign territorial integrity,” the US state department said in a statement.

The DRC and Rwandan armies exchanged fire across their shared border on Monday, UN sources said, as the rebels tried to consolidate control of Goma, a gateway for the trade of valuable tin and tantalum ores, for the second time in 13 years.

At a stadium in Goma on Tuesday, hundreds of unarmed government soldiers and militia fighters sat on the football pitch while others lined up in what the M23 fighters described as a disarmament process, according to an unverified video seen by Reuters.

“Sporadic explosions and gunfire are heard in the outlying districts of Goma. Quiet night after the rebels took over the city centre but looting of businesses. Airport, internet, electricity and water cut off,” one resident said in a phone message.

M23 is the latest in a string of ethnic Tutsi-led, Rwandan-backed insurgencies that have roiled the DRC since the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda 30 years ago, when Hutu extremists killed Tutsis and moderate Hutus, and then were toppled by Tutsi-led forces led by Kagame.

Rwanda said some of the ousted perpetrators have been sheltering in the DRC since the genocide, forming militias with alliances with the DRC government, and pose a threat to DRC Tutsis and Rwanda itself.

The DRC rejected Rwanda's complaints, and said Rwanda has used its proxy militias to control and loot lucrative minerals such as coltan, which is used in smartphones.

In the DRC capital Kinshasa, 1,600km west of Goma, protesters attacked a UN compound and embassies including those of Rwanda, France and the US on Tuesday, angered at what they said was foreign interference.

Reuters