The president of crisis-hit Democratic Republic of Congo was set to meet his Rwandan counterpart at an emergency summit on Wednesday, as fighters backed by Kigali appeared on the brink of seizing the key city of Goma.
DRC -
But as fighting eased on Tuesday night, only M23 fighters and Rwandan forces were visible on the streets, according to AFP journalists. The M23's lightning offensive marks a major escalation in the DRC's troubled east, haunted by the legacy of the 1994 Rwanda genocide and plagued by fighting between armed groups backed by regional rivals in its aftermath.It has also triggered a spiralling humanitarian crisis, with the UN warning of hundreds of thousands forced from their homes, serious food shortages, looted aid, overwhelmed hospitals and the potential spread of disease.
The violence in the mineral-rich North Kivu province around Goma has forced half a million people from their homes since the start of the year, according to the UN refugee agency.At a UN Security Council meeting on the crisis on Tuesday, the world body's peacekeeping force in the DRC warned that the fighting risked reigniting ethnic conflicts dating to the Rwandan genocide and beyond.
At an emergency meeting on Tuesday, the African Union called on the M23 to "lay down arms", also without naming Rwanda. Also on Tuesday, China's ambassador to the UN, Fu Cong, urged Rwanda to heed international calls to"stop military support" for the M23.
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