Over 100 dead as M23 dighters, DRC Army clash in North Kivu

No fewer than 100 people have been killed in clashes between the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo and M23 fighters supported by Rwandan soldiers.
DAILY POST gathered that at least 1,000 wounded in the fighting have also flooded the hospitals in the capital of the mineral-rich North Kivu province.
It was also learned that many bodies remain in the city and must be recovered as soon as possible to avoid sanitary risks.
Meanwhile, the president of crisis-hit DR Congo was set to meet his Rwandan counterpart at an emergency summit on Wednesday, as fighters backed by Kigali appeared on the brink of seizing the key city of Goma.
DAILY POST reports that the M23 armed group took control of Goma’s airport on Tuesday.
It is not yet clear how much of the provincial capital is under the control of Congolese forces versus the Rwandan-backed M23, which claimed it had taken the city on Sunday.
However, as fighting eased on Tuesday night, only M23 fighters and Rwandan forces were visible on the streets.
According to security sources, more than 1,200 Congolese soldiers have surrendered and are confined to the airport base of the UN’s mission in the DRC.
Congolese leader Felix Tshisekedi will on Wednesday meet with Rwandan President Paul Kagame at an extraordinary summit of the East African Community hosted by Kenya.
Meanwhile, ahead of the crisis talks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pressed Kagame for an immediate end to the fighting in a call the Rwandan leader described on Wednesday as productive.
The M23’s lightning offensive marks a major escalation in the DRC’s troubled east, haunted by the legacy of the 1994 Rwanda genocide and plagued by fighting between armed groups backed by regional rivals in its aftermath.
It has also triggered a spiraling humanitarian crisis, with the UN warning of hundreds of thousands forced from their homes, serious food shortages, looted aid, overwhelmed hospitals, and the potential spread of disease.
Over 100 dead as M23 dighters, DRC Army clash in North Kivu