Rwandan-backed rebels enter Congo’s Goma in major escalation

By Arlette Bashizi, Djaffar Al-Katanty, Yassin Kombi and Stanis Bujakera

Rwandan-backed rebels marched into eastern Congo’s largest city Goma on Monday, and the U.N. said they were supported by at least some regular Rwandan troops, in the worst escalation of a long-running conflict for more than a decade.

A rebel alliance spearheaded by the ethnic Tutsi-led M23 militia said it had seized the lakeside city of more than 2 million people, a hub for displaced people and aid groups lying on the border with Rwanda and last occupied by M23 in 2012.

Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance that includes the M23, told Reuters his forces controlled the city.

His claim could not be independently verified amid conflicting accounts of the situation as the sound of explosions, heavy artillery and gunfire resounded all day.

On Monday evening, Rural Development Minister Muhindo Nzangi said the Congolese army controlled 80%