Rebels widely believed to be backed by Rwanda and Uganda stepped up their patrols Monday of this key eastern Congo city that they seized last week, even as a midnight deadline issued by a regional bloc for them to withdraw loomed.
Congolese officials were in talks Sunday with representatives of M23, the rebel group that last week took control of the eastern Congo city of Goma, according to Ugandan officials.
The M23 rebels pressed ahead with their seizure of territory and towns in eastern Congo on Wednesday and said they intend to topple the government of President Joseph Kabila.
A rebel group believed to be backed by Rwanda seized the strategic, provincial capital of Goma in eastern Congo on Tuesday, home to more than 1 million people as well as an international airport in a development that threatens to spark a new, regional war, officials and witnesses said.
A rebel group created just seven months ago seized the strategic provincial capital of Goma, home to more than 1 million people in eastern Congo, and its international airport on Tuesday, officials and witnesses said, raising the specter of a regional war.
Gay, dyslexic and the survivor of near-death depression, writer Andrew Solomon has been acutely aware of his differences for most of his 49 years.
Rebels believed to be backed by Rwanda resumed mortar and machine gun fire on Monday at a village just 3 kilometers (2 miles) outside of the crucial, provincial capital of Goma, hours after saying they were halting fighting in order to negotiate with the government of Congo.
A Rwandan-backed rebel group advanced to within two miles of Goma, a crucial provincial capital in eastern Congo, marking the first time that rebels have come so close since 2008.
The population of Uganda's mountain gorillas has grown to 400, up from 302 in 2006, according to a census conducted last year, bringing the total number of mountain gorillas in Africa to 880 and giving hope to conservationists trying to save the critically endangered species.
