M23 rebels, backed by Rwanda, have seized control of Goma, a strategic city in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The takeover has been marked by intense battles, the surrender of Congolese soldiers, and the humiliation of Romanian mercenaries fighting alongside them. The rebels' victory raises serious concerns about regional stability and the ongoing conflict in eastern DRC.
On the outskirts of Goma , the site of the UN's largest peacekeeping mission globally, there are signs of surrendered soldiers and intense battles. As we walked along the road in front of the United Nations ' main base, we navigated around fatigues, spent rounds, and helmets that once belonged to the Congolese army fighting the Rwanda n-backed M23 rebels. The rebels now control the strategic city of Goma after a fierce struggle for the border post with Rwanda .
It sits south of vast expanses of mineral-rich mining territory that the rebels have been seizing throughout the past year. We observed them packed onto the backs of trucks still bearing the FARDC logo of the Congolese army. I asked a man observing from the roadside what he thought of this dramatic shift. 'This is bad!' he confided in me discreetly, with our car providing cover from the watchful eyes of junior M23 soldiers. 'My family is not good. I am not good - we don't know what comes next.' Small groups are greeting the rebels with cheers and applause. We cannot ascertain if this is relief from the Congolese state or a necessary precaution for many who do not want to leave their hometown on the brink of a new administration. However, before they can establish themselves and set up a local government, M23 take the opportunity to humiliate their former enemy. Not only the Congolese troops but also the Romanian mercenaries fighting alongside them. MONUSCO, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the DRC, facilitated an evacuation convoy for the paid fighters to depart for Rwanda, with trucks filled with Uruguayan peacekeeping troops observing as M23 oversaw the handover through their newly captured border. As the Romanian men passed through in single file, they were taunted by M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma, who mockingly tapped them one by one. 'Come on soldier!' he exclaimed. 'You were fighting for money - we were fighting for our life!' Inside the Congolese city overrun by rebels, I confronted him as he directed the buses through - could you have come this far without Rwanda's support? He tried to remain busy, and after the fourth time I repeated the question, he shouted into my face in French: 'We are a Congolese army, we are Congolese! We fight for a fair and noble cause - we are Congolese. We are not helped by Rwanda!' It will take more than a frantic denial to negate the widely known support of Rwanda for M23 - one that has been condemned at the highest levels of the United Nations and by senior diplomats from around the world. As the 'Welcome to Rwanda' sign drew closer, the last Romanian mercenary limped across, his leg wounded, flanked by a UN security advisor and an Indian medic. A surreal sight of a man returning home after fighting a war in a foreign country surrounded by Congolese families fleeing the war at home
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