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| Congo Rebels Seize Provincial Capital | Congo Rebels Seize Provincial Capital |
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| NAIROBI, Kenya — Rebel fighters seized one of the biggest, most vital cities in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday, setting off riots in several places across the country and raising serious questions about the stability of Congo as a whole. | NAIROBI, Kenya — Rebel fighters seized one of the biggest, most vital cities in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday, setting off riots in several places across the country and raising serious questions about the stability of Congo as a whole. |
| The rebel forces took Goma, a commercial hub on Congo’s eastern flank, with little resistance from the national army, which simply fled. Witnesses said United Nations peacekeepers sat in their armored personnel carriers and watched. As the news began to filter across the country, protesters in Kinshasa, the capital, and Kisangani, another major city, poured into the streets, some of them burning buildings, furious that their government was so weak. | The rebel forces took Goma, a commercial hub on Congo’s eastern flank, with little resistance from the national army, which simply fled. Witnesses said United Nations peacekeepers sat in their armored personnel carriers and watched. As the news began to filter across the country, protesters in Kinshasa, the capital, and Kisangani, another major city, poured into the streets, some of them burning buildings, furious that their government was so weak. |
| In many ways, it was history repeating itself in a country with one of the most haunted, blood-soaked histories in Africa. The trouble goes back more than a century, to when the Belgians waded into this lush expanse in the heart of Africa and brutalized the population in order to extract as much rubber and ivory as possible. In the mid-1990s, rebel forces and several foreign African armies swept through Congo, overthrowing the government and snatching enormous tracts of territory rich in copper, timber, diamonds and gold. | In many ways, it was history repeating itself in a country with one of the most haunted, blood-soaked histories in Africa. The trouble goes back more than a century, to when the Belgians waded into this lush expanse in the heart of Africa and brutalized the population in order to extract as much rubber and ivory as possible. In the mid-1990s, rebel forces and several foreign African armies swept through Congo, overthrowing the government and snatching enormous tracts of territory rich in copper, timber, diamonds and gold. |
| Millions of people died in the ensuing chaos, and back then, just like now, the trouble started in the east. | Millions of people died in the ensuing chaos, and back then, just like now, the trouble started in the east. |
| The rebel group that now controls Goma, called the March 23 Movement, or M23, is relatively small, with just a few thousand fighters who United Nations investigators say have received clandestine support from neighboring Rwanda. Still, Goma is symbolic, and its loss could set off a chain reaction. | The rebel group that now controls Goma, called the March 23 Movement, or M23, is relatively small, with just a few thousand fighters who United Nations investigators say have received clandestine support from neighboring Rwanda. Still, Goma is symbolic, and its loss could set off a chain reaction. |
| “The fall of Goma has always been a lodestar,” said Willet Weeks, a political analyst in Nairobi who has been following Congo since the 1970s. “Whether the government can regain any stability in the next few days will be the question.” | “The fall of Goma has always been a lodestar,” said Willet Weeks, a political analyst in Nairobi who has been following Congo since the 1970s. “Whether the government can regain any stability in the next few days will be the question.” |
| Congo’s government has gone into a tailspin, and many analysts believe that the chances are increasing for a military putsch along the lines of what happened in Mali this year, when disaffected officers seized power, citing the government’s fecklessness against rebels. Or, they say, other important areas of Congo, like copper-rich Lubumbashi, may rise up, causing the nation to fragment, fulfilling all the grim prophecies that Congo is simply too vast and too complicated to be one country. | Congo’s government has gone into a tailspin, and many analysts believe that the chances are increasing for a military putsch along the lines of what happened in Mali this year, when disaffected officers seized power, citing the government’s fecklessness against rebels. Or, they say, other important areas of Congo, like copper-rich Lubumbashi, may rise up, causing the nation to fragment, fulfilling all the grim prophecies that Congo is simply too vast and too complicated to be one country. |
| Many Congolese are fed up with the president, Joseph Kabila, who is seen by critics as disengaged, indecisive and incompetent, unable to muster a functioning army or breathe life into any national institutions. The dissatisfaction burst into the open last November, during his re-election campaign, when opposition supporters took to the streets and Mr. Kabila’s troops fired on them. | Many Congolese are fed up with the president, Joseph Kabila, who is seen by critics as disengaged, indecisive and incompetent, unable to muster a functioning army or breathe life into any national institutions. The dissatisfaction burst into the open last November, during his re-election campaign, when opposition supporters took to the streets and Mr. Kabila’s troops fired on them. |
| On Tuesday, Congolese officials sought to blame Goma’s fall on Rwanda, which has meddled in Congo many times before and occupied large parts of the country from the mid-1990s through the early 2000s. Rwanda is one of the smallest countries in Africa and Congo one of the biggest — though the Rwandans field one of the toughest, most disciplined militaries on the continent and the Congolese Army has been a mess for decades. | On Tuesday, Congolese officials sought to blame Goma’s fall on Rwanda, which has meddled in Congo many times before and occupied large parts of the country from the mid-1990s through the early 2000s. Rwanda is one of the smallest countries in Africa and Congo one of the biggest — though the Rwandans field one of the toughest, most disciplined militaries on the continent and the Congolese Army has been a mess for decades. |
| “We consider Congo as a country that is under foreign occupation,” Lambert Mende, the government spokesman, declared Tuesday. | “We consider Congo as a country that is under foreign occupation,” Lambert Mende, the government spokesman, declared Tuesday. |
| He said the president was calling on the people to “resist by any means.” | He said the president was calling on the people to “resist by any means.” |
| But Goma was relatively quiet on Tuesday, despite the change in power. It is a border town, with a few hundred yards separating chaotic, messy, corrupt Congo from tidy, orderly, stable Rwanda. Many people in Goma speak Kinyarwanda, the language of Rwanda, and feel more connected to Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, than Kinshasa, nearly 1,000 miles away. | But Goma was relatively quiet on Tuesday, despite the change in power. It is a border town, with a few hundred yards separating chaotic, messy, corrupt Congo from tidy, orderly, stable Rwanda. Many people in Goma speak Kinyarwanda, the language of Rwanda, and feel more connected to Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, than Kinshasa, nearly 1,000 miles away. |
| Witnesses said that as the rebel commanders paraded down Goma’s potholed thoroughfares on Tuesday afternoon, some people clapped. Congolese customs officials quietly deserted their posts and congregated at a nearby hotel, leaving the border wide open. | Witnesses said that as the rebel commanders paraded down Goma’s potholed thoroughfares on Tuesday afternoon, some people clapped. Congolese customs officials quietly deserted their posts and congregated at a nearby hotel, leaving the border wide open. |
| “The M23 is well inside Goma,” said a United Nations military official in Goma on Tuesday afternoon, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the situation was so fluid. | “The M23 is well inside Goma,” said a United Nations military official in Goma on Tuesday afternoon, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the situation was so fluid. |
| Congo is home to one of the largest, most expensive peacekeeping operations in the world, with more than 1,000 blue-helmeted troops in the Goma area. But they did not confront the rebels on Tuesday. Instead, white United Nations jeeps and armored personnel carriers drove past the occupying rebel troops “like they ignored each other,” one witness said. | Congo is home to one of the largest, most expensive peacekeeping operations in the world, with more than 1,000 blue-helmeted troops in the Goma area. But they did not confront the rebels on Tuesday. Instead, white United Nations jeeps and armored personnel carriers drove past the occupying rebel troops “like they ignored each other,” one witness said. |
| United Nations officials defended their actions, saying that fighting the rebels inside Goma could imperil the 500,000 to one million people living in the city and that protecting civilians was the peacekeepers’ mandate. | United Nations officials defended their actions, saying that fighting the rebels inside Goma could imperil the 500,000 to one million people living in the city and that protecting civilians was the peacekeepers’ mandate. |
| By midday Tuesday, the rebels had taken control of the area surrounding the airport but not the terminal and other buildings themselves. | By midday Tuesday, the rebels had taken control of the area surrounding the airport but not the terminal and other buildings themselves. |
| Many people inside Goma seemed confused about the situation and how it would evolve in the days ahead. | Many people inside Goma seemed confused about the situation and how it would evolve in the days ahead. |
| Just a few days ago, the rebels insisted they had no intention of taking Goma and were fighting the government simply in the hopes of getting a better deal to be integrated into the national army. Many diplomats and others have always suspected, though, that the rebels’ true aim was to carve out a sphere of influence within eastern Congo that would allow them to control the lucrative mineral trade and to stay close to Rwandan business and military contacts. | Just a few days ago, the rebels insisted they had no intention of taking Goma and were fighting the government simply in the hopes of getting a better deal to be integrated into the national army. Many diplomats and others have always suspected, though, that the rebels’ true aim was to carve out a sphere of influence within eastern Congo that would allow them to control the lucrative mineral trade and to stay close to Rwandan business and military contacts. |
| Rwanda has consistently denied backing the M23 rebels, though some United Nations officials say there is evidence that rebel fighters were recruited inside Rwanda and that the Rwandan government helped funnel weapons. In 2008, when another rebel group marched perilously close to Goma — and the M23 is essentially the recent incarnation of that group, with a vast majority of its troops and commanders the same — Rwandan tanks fired from across the border. At the time, the Congolese Army fled, just as it did on Tuesday. The only thing that kept Goma from falling then was extensive negotiations and Rwandan pressure on the rebels to stop, which they did. | Rwanda has consistently denied backing the M23 rebels, though some United Nations officials say there is evidence that rebel fighters were recruited inside Rwanda and that the Rwandan government helped funnel weapons. In 2008, when another rebel group marched perilously close to Goma — and the M23 is essentially the recent incarnation of that group, with a vast majority of its troops and commanders the same — Rwandan tanks fired from across the border. At the time, the Congolese Army fled, just as it did on Tuesday. The only thing that kept Goma from falling then was extensive negotiations and Rwandan pressure on the rebels to stop, which they did. |
| Mr. Kabila is supposed to meet President Paul Kagame of Rwanda for peace talks in the coming days. | Mr. Kabila is supposed to meet President Paul Kagame of Rwanda for peace talks in the coming days. |
| The rebels are now threatening to march to Bukavu, the next big eastern Congo town and a gateway to the interior of the country. | The rebels are now threatening to march to Bukavu, the next big eastern Congo town and a gateway to the interior of the country. |
Jeffrey Gettleman reported from Nairobi, and Josh Kron from Kampala, Uganda. | Jeffrey Gettleman reported from Nairobi, and Josh Kron from Kampala, Uganda. |
| This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: | This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: |
| Correction: November 20, 2012 | Correction: November 20, 2012 |
An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of the United Nations official who leads the peacekeeping office in North Kivu Province. She is Hiroute | An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of the United Nations official who leads the peacekeeping office in North Kivu Province. She is Hiroute Guebre Sellassie, not Guebre Sellasie. |