World News | Governor of Congo's North Kivu Province Dies of His Wounds in Fighting with Rebels, Authorities Say
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. The governor of eastern Congo's North Kivu province has died from injuries sustained during fighting on the front line, authorities said Friday, as M23 rebels closed in on the provincial capital.
Goma, Jan 24 (AP) The governor of eastern Congo's North Kivu province has died from injuries sustained during fighting on the front line, authorities said Friday, as M23 rebels closed in on the provincial capital.
M23 made significant territorial gains in recent weeks, encircling Goma, which has around 2 million people and is a regional hub for security and humanitarian efforts.
The circumstances around the death of Maj. Gen Peter Cirimwami were unclear but Cirimwami, who led army operations in the restive North Kivu, visited troops on the front line in Kasengezi, around 13 kilometres from Goma, on the day of his death.
His death Thursday was confirmed by a government source, a military source and a UN source Friday, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on the matter publicly.
On Thursday, panic spread in Goma as rebels took control of Sake, a town only 27 kilometres from the provincial capital and one of the last main routes into the city still under government control, according to the UN chief.
M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo, along the border with Rwanda, in a decades-long conflict that has created one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.
More than 7 million people have been displaced by the fighting. Earlier this month, M23 captured the towns of Minova, Katale and Masisi, west of Goma.
M23 seized Goma in 2012 and controlled it for over a week.
Congo, the United States and UN experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which is mainly composed of ethnic Tutsis who broke away from the Congolese army over a decade ago.
Rwanda's government denies the claim but last year admitted that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo to safeguard its security, pointing to a buildup of Congolese forces near the border. UN experts estimate there are up to 4,000 Rwandan forces in Congo.
The city of Goma was gripped by palpable tension as clashes between Congo's armed forces and M23 raged on in the city's periphery on Friday.
The fighting is concentrated in Kibumba, around 25 kilometres north of Goma, and around Sake, to the west.
More than 178,000 people have fled M23 advance in the last two weeks.
Alliance Gentil, 25, was among dozens of displaced people on the road from Sake to Goma on Friday. Sitting on her water container next to her belongings, a baby on her back, she said she is tired of constantly fleeing.
“I am fleeing, but I don't know where I am going,” the mother of two children said, adding that she already fled twice in the last month. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)