UN: Goma well protected from rebels

The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo said yesterday that the security set-up around the main eastern city of Goma would stop the M23 rebels from seizing it were they to act on their recent threats. “The measures that were put in place around Goma do not allow for any attempt by M23 to penetrate this set-up and enter Goma,” Prosper Basse, military spokesman for the peacekeeping mission, told the press. To reach Goma, the capital of the unstable North Kivu province, “there are three major routes,” including one leading from the Rutshuru area where the rebels are stationed, “and I can assure you that security around Goma is solid,” he added. The M23 — a group of former rebels who integrated the regular army in 2009 but mutinied earlier this year — threatened on Monday to seize Goma to “save” its inhabitants from a surge in violence they blamed on the army.