WHO: Death toll from fighting in DRC's Goma reaches at least 900

Fighting last week between Congolese government forces and Rwanda-backed rebels in the major eastern city of Goma left at least 900 people dead, the UN health agency has said, raising the previously cited death toll of 773.

The World Health Organization said on Monday that at least 900 bodies were recovered from the streets of Goma as of last Friday following five days of fighting in which the M23 rebels took control of the city.

The WHO cited nearly 2,900 injuries in the fighting. The UN and Congo’s government had earlier put the provisional death toll at 773.

The M23 rebels are backed by some 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda, according to UN experts, far more than in 2012 when they first captured Goma. They are the most potent of the more than 100 armed groups vying for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits critical to much of the world’s technology.

On the other hand, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame will attend a summit on Saturday on the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo where a Rwanda-backed armed group is advancing.

M23 fighters and Rwandan soldiers have made substantial gains in the eastern DRC, taking the major city of Goma last week, and have vowed to march across the vast country to the capital Kinshasa.

'Vigorous' military response

With tensions spiralling, Tshisekedi has promised a "vigorous" military response and urged the international community to impose sanctions on Rwanda.

Tshisekedi and Kaga me will join a two-day joint summit of eastern and southern African countries due to begin on Friday in Tanzania, Kenya's presidency said Monday.

Both leaders have been no-shows at previous talks attempting to broker peace between the two sides.

The lightning offensive is the latest escalation in a region devastated by decades of fighting involving dozens of armed groups, with many seeking to control its rich veins of key minerals used in technology.

Dire humanitarian situation

The fall of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, saw deadly clashes and added to an already dire humanitarian situation.

The M23 has since advanced towards the neighbouring province of South Kivu, threatening its main city, Bukavu.

A local source in Bukavu told AFP that the city "remains calm for the time being".

But the source added that information suggested that the M23 "is reorganising with reinforcements and arms shipments to probably go to the front now that fighting has ended in Goma".

In South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed Monday to continue providing support to the DRC in the face of nationwide calls to withdraw troops following the death of 14 South African soldiers.

"The mission will wind down in accordance with the implementation of various confidence-building measures and when the ceasefire we have called for takes root," Ramaphosa said in a statement.

Most of the soldiers killed were part of a peacekeeping mission sent to the eastern DRC in 2023 by the 16-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC).