15 07 13 UN News Center: DR Congo: UN blue helmets on 'high alert' as M23 rebels advance towards Goma

The UN Organization
Stabilization Mission in Congo (MONUSCO)
expressed “deep concern” about the latest bout of fighting which broke out
after a significant group of the M23 attacked the national forces (FARDC) on 14
July in Mutaho, eight kilometres northwest of Goma, in eastern DRC. According
to the Mission,
heavy artillery and a battle tank were used in the attack.

“Any attempt by the M23 to advance toward Goma
will be considered a direct threat to civilians,” the Mission warned. It also noted that the UN
blue helmets stand ready to take any necessary measures, including the use of
lethal force, in order to protect civilians.

The acting Special
Representative of the Secretary General in the country, Moustapha Soumaré,
urged restraint to avoid a further escalation of the situation.

“I call on all to abide by the Peace, Security
and Cooperation Framework Agreement and to allow the political process towards
peace to move forward,” Mr. Soumaré said, referring to the UN-brokered accord
adopted in February with the support of 11 nations and four international
organizations (11+4), with the aim of ending the cycles of conflict and crisis
in the eastern DRC and to build peace in the long-troubled Great Lakes region.

“I urge all signatories of the PSC Framework to
exercise their influence in order to avoid an escalation of the situation,” he
added.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Mary
Robinson, the UN Special Envoy for Africa's Great Lakes Region, along with
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, visited the DRC in May to bolster support
for the PSC Framework which Ms. Robinson dubbed a “framework for hope.”

Last month, there was
talk of a possible resumption of peace talks between the Government of the DRC
and the M23. At that time, Mrs. Robinson had urged both sides to engage in
earnest discussion under the auspices of the Chairperson of the International
Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Ugandan President Yoweri
Museveni. Mr. Robinson was convened in Burundi
last week a conference to help develop a road map for women's engagement in
efforts to bring peace to Africa's long-trouble Great
Lakes countries.

Since March, tensions in
the region have been heightened, leading to the Security Council to authorize
in March the deployment of an intervention brigade within MONUSCO to carry out
targeted offensive operations, with or without FARDC, against armed groups that
threaten peace in eastern DRC.