UN peacekeeping chief in Congo meets M23 leaders in first visit to rebel-held city

GOMA, Congo — The head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo met with leaders of the Rwanda-backed rebel group M23 on Friday in Goma, in her first visit to the eastern city of Goma since its capture by the insurgents.

The meeting included discussions on the mandate of the peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO, especially on the protection of civilians, the mission said on X.

Mission head Bintou Keita met with Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance that includes M23, and other representatives.

The rebel leaders "expressed their willingness to find a peaceful solution to the crisis,'' Keita said.

The decades-long conflict in eastern Congo escalated in January, when the Rwanda-backed M23 advanced and seized the strategic city of Goma in North Kivu province, followed by Bukavu in February.

Despite Congo's army and M23 having agreed to work toward a truce in April, fighting between the two sides continues.

The meeting on Friday came as the rebels have recently been accused of committing possible war crimes in the territories they control.

In May, Amnesty International said the rebels killed, tortured and forcibly disappeared civilian detainees in Goma and Bukavu.

M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the world's most significant humanitarian crises. More than 7 million people have been displaced, including 100,000 who fled homes this year.

The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as Congo's capital, Kinshasa, about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) to the east.

The MONUSCO force arrived in Congo in 2010 after taking over from an earlier U.N. peacekeeping mission to protect civilians and humanitarian personnel and to support the Congolese government in its stabilization and peace consolidation efforts.

However, frustrated Congolese have said that no one is protecting them from rebel attacks, leading to protests against the U.N. mission and others that have at times turned deadly.

In 2023, at Congo's request, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to draw down the peacekeeping force and gradually hand over its security responsibilities to Congo's government.

Last year, in the first stage of a planned full withdrawal, MONUSCO forces left the province of South Kivu.

The head of MONUSCO's visit to Goma sparked mixed reactions among local residents of Goma.

''She's here to carry out interventions where insecurity reigns in the country, and that's why, in my opinion, her presence in the city of Goma will change many things," Abiba Kasole, a student in the city, told The Associated Press.

Another resident, Muguiko David, was less hopeful about the prospects of Keita's visit bringing peace.

''What we think of MONUSCO, since it has been here with us, is that we live a miserable life, because they say they are here to help bring peace, and the peace they're supposed to bring—we don't see it," he said.