The border between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda, in the Goma region, has been closed following clashes between the M23 armed group and Kinshasa troops, a European consular source told AFP.
The border is closed," the consular source said.
"Nobody is coming in or going out, with the exception of some UN staff and family members who were evacuated [from Goma] this morning," added a humanitarian worker at the main crossing point between the DRC and Rwanda.
The armed group March 23 Movement (M23) today claimed control of the city of Goma, capital of the province of North Kivu, in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
In a statement, the Congo River Alliance (AFC-M23, in French), a political-military coalition in the DRC that is part of the M23, announced a "glorious day marking the liberation of the city of Goma".
"We call on all residents of Goma to remain calm. The liberation of the city has been successfully achieved and the situation is under control," the armed group said.
In recent days, there have been intense fighting between the M23 and the DRC Army, which has already displaced thousands.
"Goma is about to fall," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said this morning in Paris, condemning the military situation in the region.
The entry into the capital of the province of North Kivu, on the border with Rwanda and home to a million inhabitants and a million displaced people, marks the end of several weeks of advances by Rwandan soldiers and M23 fighters against the Kinshasa Army.
Meanwhile, the Kenyan government has called a meeting to discuss the conflict that has been raging in the DRC for more than three years.
According to France Prece, the meeting in Nairobi is expected to take place this week.
The DRC accuses Rwanda of seeking to control the natural resources of the eastern DRC, however Kigali denies Kinshasa's accusations.
Fighters from the March 23 Movement (M23) and 3,500 Rwandan soldiers, according to the UN, entered Goma on Sunday, where they had been under siege for several days, according to several UN sources.
Today AFP journalists heard heavy artillery fire in the center of Goma, on the shores of Lake Kivu.
As a sign of the "chaos that has ensued", the city's prison with 3,000 inmates was "set on fire" following an escape that left dead, a security source told AFP, without giving figures.
Rwanda and M23 accuse the DRC army of cooperating with the rebel group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), founded in 2000 by leaders of the 1994 genocide and other exiled Rwandans.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday called on the Rwanda Defence Forces (ARF) to withdraw from the east and stop supporting M23.
In the last 48 hours, António Guterres recalled, three soldiers from the UN mission, two from South Africa and one from Uruguay, were killed in combat while eleven were injured.
M23's armed activity resumed in November 2021 with attacks against the Congolese army in North Kivu, and in March 2022 the group launched a large-scale armed offensive.
Since then, the M23 has advanced on several fronts until reaching a position near Goma, where two million people live.
Since 1998, eastern DRC has been facing a conflict between armed militias despite the presence of the United Nations.
