GOMA: Six foreign peacekeepers have been killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where fighting between the Congolese army and Rwandan-backed M23 fighters intensified on Saturday, officials said.
Fighting raged in the region despite calls from the international community for the Rwandan-backed M23 to halt its advance on Goma, the key city in the mineral-rich east and home to more than a million people.
An AFP reporter saw a burned-out, smoking armoured vehicle of the UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO on the road between Goma and Sake, scene of intense fighting in recent days.
A political party in South Africa said three of that country’s peacekeepers were killed and a further three from Malawi also died, according to a military spokesman.
In Goma, the main city of the restive North Kivu province, artillery detonations in the distance resonated as far as the city centre.
The European Union on Saturday urged the M23 to halt its advance.
“Rwanda must cease its support for the M23 and withdraw. The EU strongly condemns Rwanda’s military presence in the DRC as a clear violation of international law, the UN charter and the territorial integrity of the DRC,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
The African Union in a statement called for the “immediate cessation” of fighting and said it “urges the parties to preserve the lives of civilians”.
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