The governor of eastern Congo's North Kivu region has died of injuries sustained while fighting on the front line, authorities said Friday, as M23 rebels closed in on the capital of the department.
M23 has made major territorial gains in recent weeks, encircling Goma, which has about two million people and is a regional hub for security and humanitarian efforts.
The circumstances surrounding the death of Major General Peter Cirimwami were unclear but Cirimwami, who was in charge of military operations in resurgent North Kivu, visited troops on the front line in Kasengezi, about 13 kilometers from Goma , on the day of his death.
His death on Thursday was confirmed by a government source, a military source and a UN source on Friday, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. The governor died at a hospital after being injured on the front line, they said.
On Thursday, panic spread in Goma when rebels took control of Sake, a town just 27 kilometers from the provincial capital and one of the last main routes into the city that remains under government control, which according to the UN chief.
M23 is one of around 100 armed groups that have been fighting for a foothold in the mineral-rich eastern Congo, along the border with Rwanda, in a decades-long conflict that has created one of the the world's greatest humanitarian crisis. More than seven million people were displaced by the fighting.
Earlier this month, M23 captured the towns of Minova, Katale and Masisi, west of Goma.
M23 captured Goma in 2012 and controlled it for over a week.
Congolese, US and UN experts accuse Rwanda of supporting the M23, which is mostly made up of ethnic Tutsis who broke away from the Congolese army more than ten years ago.
The Rwandan government denies the allegations but admitted last year that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo to protect its security, marking a build-up of Congolese forces near the end UN experts estimate that there are up to 4,000 Rwandan forces in Congo.
Tennis, rivalry
The city of Goma was gripped by visible tension as clashes between the Congolese armed forces and the M23 continued on the outskirts of the city on Friday.
The fighting is centered in Kibumba, about 25 kilometers north of Goma, and around Sake, to the west. More than 178,000 people have fled the M23 in the past two weeks.
Alliance Gentil, 25, was among dozens of displaced people on the road from Sake to Goma on Friday. Sitting on her water container next to her belongings, a baby on her back, she said she is tired of running away.
“I'm running away, but I don't know where I'm going,” said the mother of two, adding that she ran away twice last month.
The front line near Goma is just a few dozen meters from the Lushagala and Bulengo displaced persons camps, raising fears among those seeking safety near the provincial capital.
Tens of thousands more arrived in recent weeks to the camps in Goma and its outskirts, which were already home to nearly 600,000 displaced people, according to the UN refugee agency.
The explosion of heavy weapons across Goma began on Friday. Many shops and stores remained closed and police were deployed on the city's main streets. Military checkpoints were set up throughout the city, monitoring all vehicles.
