ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
U.N. aid agencies are warning of a major humanitarian crisis as fighting continues in the Congolese city of Goma. The city of over 2 million people is the main trading hub of the mineral-rich region. It is now nearly completely under the control of Rwandan-backed rebels. Neighboring Rwanda has not admitted to its role in the conflict, but there are growing international calls for Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to restart peace talks. A warning to listeners - you will hear gunfire in this story. Emmet Livingstone reports from Goma.
(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)
EMMET LIVINGSTONE, BYLINE: Many residents in Goma are still sheltering in place. While the situation on the streets remains uncertain, outside our hotel, columns of Rwandan-backed M23 fighters marched past this morning. Dressed in green camouflage and carrying machine guns and rocket launchers, they looked calm as they headed uphill towards the city center. The nonstop crackle of gunfire and the blasts of mortar strikes is no more, and the battle for Goma is mostly over. The internet is still cut, and reliable information is in short supply.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIREN WAILING)
LIVINGSTONE: The wail of ambulances punctured the eerie silence during lulls in the fighting. Hospitals across Goma have been reportedly overwhelmed by people wounded by bullets and shrapnel.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
LIVINGSTONE: Before the rebels arrived, hundreds of thousands went to seek shelter closer to the city, which is already surrounded by nearly a million people displaced in earlier waves of the conflict. Confusion reigns. No one is clear what the end game is. The Rwandan-backed M23 is a Tutsi-led rebel group that laid dormant for over a decade. It says that it is fighting to protect ethnic minorities. Diplomats and experts say the group is heavily supported by Congo's smaller neighbor, Rwanda, if not a proxy for Rwandan interests. Thousands of Rwandan troops are fighting by the M23's side in eastern Congo.
(SOUNDBITE OF WHISTLES BLOWING)
LIVINGSTONE: A thousand miles away in the capital, Kinshasa, the fall of Goma to the rebels and Rwandan forces has sparked fury. Protesters attacked the embassies of those countries they consider complicit with Rwanda, including the U.S. The U.S. is advising its citizens to shelter in place and to leave the country, quote, "while commercial options are still available."
(SOUNDBITE OF WATER LAPPING)
LIVINGSTONE: Here in the darkness by the lake, the guns have fallen silent. Goma has been afflicted by the ebb and flow of violence for three decades - collateral damage in conflicts that exploded in eastern Congo after the 1994 Rwandan genocide. But the violence seems almost paradoxical in a region of such astonishing natural beauty, where active volcanoes tower above jungles and rolling green hills. Eastern Congo is also rich in minerals, but this natural bounty has only sustained this conflict over the years. For NPR News, I'm Emmet Livingstone in Goma. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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