# Tshisekedi addresses Congo after Goma falls to Rwanda-backed rebels
Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi addressed the nation after insurgent forces seized Goma, warning of a response to what his government described as terrorism and calling for calm as the crisis in eastern Congo intensified.
The Foreign Policy report in the packet says Tshisekedi skipped a virtual crisis summit with Rwanda's President Paul Kagame and other regional leaders. The meeting had been called to deal with the fighting in eastern Congo, where the Congo River Alliance, reportedly backed by Rwanda, had captured large parts of Goma, including the airport.
The scale of the crisis is severe. The packet says fighting between Congolese forces and the rebel alliance has killed more than 100 people, injured nearly 1,000 and displaced about 300,000 people living in camps around the city. It also says protesters in Kinshasa attacked at least 10 embassies in anger over Rwanda's alleged role in supporting the M23 rebels.
The report notes that Rwanda denies backing the insurgency, while the U.N. says there is extensive evidence that Rwanda supports M23. That dispute is central to the conflict, which has repeatedly threatened to spill into a wider regional war. Congolese officials have accused Kigali of deploying troops into eastern Congo, while Rwanda has blamed the Congolese military and accused it of violating a ceasefire agreement.
Tshisekedi's absence from the summit and decision to address the nation instead were significant because they signaled both the gravity of the crisis and the weakness of regional diplomacy. The packet says the summit was intended to address the fall of Goma, where rebels overran key infrastructure and pushed south toward Bukavu.
Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner called on the U.N. Security Council to act urgently, demanding the withdrawal of Rwandan troops, sanctions on Rwanda's military and an embargo on illicit resource exports. Acting U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea also called for an immediate ceasefire and said Rwanda must withdraw its troops.
The humanitarian dimension is just as stark. The U.N. humanitarian coordinator said civilians were taking the brunt of the violence, and the packet says looting, disruption of water, electricity and internet, and attacks on health workers had all accompanied the rebel advance. The note that more than 280 Romanian mercenaries had surrendered to M23 on Wednesday shows how internationalized the fighting has become.
Even within this narrow packet, the story is clear: Goma's fall marked the gravest escalation in years of conflict, and Tshisekedi's emergency address was a political response to a military and humanitarian disaster that is still unfolding.
