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James Akena / Reuters
A United Nations peacekeepers' armored vehicle drives past rebels patrolling a street in Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after they captured the city from the government army on Tuesday.
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo -- Rebel forces in eastern Congo said Wednesday they planned to take control of the entire country after capturing the city of Goma as United Nations peacekeepers looked on.
A spokesman for the M23 rebels -- a group widely believed to be backed by Rwanda -- said they planned to "liberate" the country by marching on the capital, Kinshasa, nearly 1,000 miles away.
The rebels had previously said they were seeking talks with Democratic Republic of Congo's President Joseph Kabila.
"The journey to liberate Congo has started now ... We're going to move on to Bukavu and then to Kinshasa. Are you ready to join us?" Vianney Kazarama, spokesman for the M23 rebels, told a crowd of more than 1,000 in a stadium in Goma.
PhotoBlog: Congo police surrender as rebels take control of Goma
Goma fell Tuesday when hundreds of rebel fighters poured into the city and government troops melted away after sporadic gunfire.
Rebels used local radio and television stations to appeal for calm, but there are fears of human rights abuses and tens of thousands of people had already fled days of fighting between the rebels and U.N.-backed Congolese soldiers.
Rebel soldiers attack Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The rebels are allegedly backed by Rwanda and threaten troops backed by United Nations peacekeepers. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
Rebel army seizes control of Congo city as UN peacekeepers do nothing
The M23 rebellion has aggravated tensions between Congo and its neighbor Rwanda, which Kinshasa's government says is orchestrating the insurgency as a means of grabbing the region's mineral wealth, which includes diamonds, gold and coltan, a metal used in mobile phones.
While conflict has simmered almost constantly in Congo's east in recent years, this is the first time Goma has fallen to rebels since foreign occupying armies officially pulled out under peace deals at the end of the most recent 1998-2003 war, dubbed "Africa's World War" because so many countries became involved.
Aid agencies have estimated that 5 million people have died from fighting and conflict-related disease since the 1998 war began.
Phil Moore / AFP - Getty Images
Twelve-year-old amputee Kakule Elie, who was hit by a stray bullet, lies in a bed in a hospital in Goma Tuesday.
Congo rebel clashes stoke fears of broader conflict
Diplomats at the United Nations and regional mediators in Central Africa have been seeking to prevent an escalation of hostilities in Congo, which is the size of Western Europe.
Kabila and Rwandan Paul Kagame were due to meet later on Wednesday after holding three-way talks with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni late on Tuesday, sources in the Ugandan presidency said.
Rights group blasts Rwanda winning seat on UN Security Council
In New York, the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution late on Tuesday condemning the seizure of Goma and demanding that M23’s forces should withdraw and disband.
The council also expressed "deep concern at reports indicating that external support continues to be provided to the M23.”
Hague war crimes court to finds Congo warlord guilty
The French government expressed frustration with U.N. peacekeepers, who gave up the battle for the city of a million people after Congo's army retreated, saying it was "absurd" that the U.N. force did not protect the city.
"MONUSCO [the U.N. force] is 17,000 soldiers, but sadly it was not in a position to prevent what happened," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said of the U.N.'s Congo mission. "It is necessary that the MONUSCO mandate is reviewed."
Congo crisis exacerbated by heavy rains
But a senior U.N. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the withdrawal of civilian and military Congolese officials had left a void it could not fill alone.
"We're not the army of any country, let alone the Congolese army, and it's not for us to take positions by ourselves to stop a rebel attack or the movement of rebels," the official said. "Our job is to protect civilians.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Note to self: "Never waste time 'liberating' a country you wouldn't live in."
This is just one more example of how useless and toothless the UN has become. There are 17,000 UN troops in the country and yet they sit there and simply allow these rebels to take over a city without firing a shot. Maybe if the Congolese troops had some support from the UN peacekeeping forces they would not have had to pull back. Obviously the Congolese military on its own could not stop the rebels. If the UN troops are going to simply allow things like this to happen, then why are they even there. Why waste money on keeping these troops in the country if they are not going to do anything.
The UN is worthless. Why are we funding it?
Invest in NATO, at least they blow @!$%# up.
Tutsis are on the warpath.
My best wishes and hopes for the safety of the people go out to them.
Whenever factions go to war, it's always the ordinary people who lose, and women and children suffer the worst. I've seeen and heard plenty about the human rights abuses and what the various rogue militia factions running around the region are doing to the ordinary people. The militia forces expelled from Uganda and Rwanda after the African world War couldn't find anything better to do except settle in the jungles of the DRC and terrorize the people?
It's seeing things like this that make me fervently glad that I live here in America. Our system may be flawed but it's better than none--and it makes me wonder about all these people in America who proclaim they are 'anarchists' and want to overthrow rule of law. Is this REALLY waht you want? Go live down there for a year and see if you still want anarchy after that...if you're still alive at the end of that year!
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge 'liberated' Cambodia, then marched everyone out of the cities and murdered over one million people out in the rice fields. Of course, Pol Pot stayed in town in the most luxurious hotel rooms, moving from one to another when they became dirty, since he had the hotel staffs killed because they were too educated. The same thing will happen in the Congo. It is too late to stop the rebels, but not too early to plan an intervention. Maybe South Africa can take this one and run with it, since the rest of the world is busy screwing up all the countries the 'free world' has invaded.
The UN oversees more bloodshed.
Why is the U.N. even there?? Keeping peace between who? We are so arrogant to think we can run Africa better than Africans!! Did Africa send troops to Europe during WWI and WWII? Let Africans take charge of Africa and stop thinking we know so much better than them.
I liberated my Goma last night.
Wow,...rebels sieze city, pledge to march on capital, Congo in rebellion! As to critizing the UN over not fighting in out tooth-n-nail with the rebels...get serious folks. First of all, who wants to fight and die for the Congo...nobody. The government and rebels don't kill each other, just civilians. Secondly, they're UN Peacekeeper, not UN Warfighters.
History teaches the folly of dividing tribal areas into European style countries, eventually, after the European oppressors leave, the native people want to revert back to the traditional tribal borders. Thousands of years of ingraned experience trumps European influence almost every time.
The people of the many and varied tribes of the Congo region live a tribal lifestyle and those who don't live along the river are just as tribal.
More "rebels" created and funded by western banksters... we'll encourage these folks to take over and destabilize the country, then we'll send our troops in to "restore order" and seize control of the roughly $24trillion in natural resources there.
We'll start hearing in 6-8 months about how Congo needs to be our next stop after Iran... and you're all stupid enough to go along with it. I promise we'll see thousands of American kids killed fighting for natural resources across Africa in the coming years. Yea for #republicrats and the NWO!
Anonymous...where do you come up with this "stuff"? I mean it, you make idiots like me look good. You honestly believe what you write (I sure as hell don't, but I hoped you'd be better than that)? Rebels created and funded by Western "banksters". I know the US is headed towards socialism (by choice apparently), but C'mon...how far are you going to drag that "Banks are the motivators of all evil" crap? Banks love stability not chaos, chaos doesn't pay as well as stability.
The central banking system is owned by a handful of families who finance whole governments including the US... This small group of ultra-mega-wealthy individuals (again, worth more than nations) affects policies all around the world. The #Rothschild family in particular has financed both sides of every single international conflict over the past century.
Did the UN Peacekeepers protect the civilians? If so, they did their job and they have value; if they didn't, then they were useless. Like RTColorado states, their job is peacekeeping, not warfighting.
The Tutsis, the hutu and the Mai Mai are at it again.
S OL S
United Nations forces are normally out of position for everything but photos.