The fighting in eastern DRC intensified after M23 announced its capture of towns such as Sake and Masisi and warned that Goma, the capital and largest city of the North Kivu Province, would be their next target. The city fell under the control of M23 fighters in the early hours of Monday morning.
Following the instability in the region major countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, advised their citizens to evacuate to safer locations.
The United Nations, which already has peacekeeping forces under the MONUSCO mission, had earlier stated that non-essential personnel would be evacuated.
MONUSCO requested to evacuate their staff and families through Rwanda following the closure of the Goma airspace and waterways on Thursday. M23 had accused the Congolese army and allied forces of "using Goma airport to load bombs that are killing the civilian population".
By 7:00 AM, the first group of UN staff and their families had begun arriving at the border, where their identities were verified to confirm they were UN personnel. After this process, they were transported by vehicles to Kigali Pele Stadium.
The first group, consisting of 660 individuals, mostly women and children, was received at the stadium at 3:00 PM. Plans were initially made to allocate them to hotels or transport them to the airport, but the United Nations opted to accommodate all evacuees in hotels first.
Meanwhile, the conflict between M23 and FARDC continues to escalate, with Congolese government forces intensifying cross-border shelling into Rwanda.
IGIHE
