ISLAMABAD: Following the recent escalation of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), around 150 Pakistanis were stranded in the city of Goma, confirmed the Foreign Office on Thursday.
In a statement, FO Spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said that with the active engagement of Pakistan’s high commissioner in Kigali, the Rwandan authorities have allowed the entry of stranded Pakistanis into Rwanda.
“So far around 75 Pakistanis have moved to Rwanda,” he added.
M23 rebels captured Goma, a city of two million people and capital of North Kivu province, on Monday.
The rebels advanced south on Wednesday in an apparent attempt to expand their area of control. They marched along the western side of Lake Kivu and neared Kavumu, where Bukavu’s airport is located.
In the statement, the spokesperson said that the high commission in Kigali arranged accommodation and food for the affected Pakistanis.
The high commission is also reaching out to the Pakistani community to identify and reach out to any other citizen in difficulty, Shafqat added.
“There is likelihood of more Pakistanis crossing over to Rwanda in the coming days,” he said, adding that the high commission staff was in contact with every individual who had asked for assistance and help. Furthermore, the diplomatic staff was also reaching out to Pakistanis in the border city of Bukavu, he added.
The group’s capture of most of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, is a dramatic escalation in a region that has seen decades of conflict involving multiple armed groups.
Rwanda says its primary interest is to eradicate fighters linked to the 1994 genocide but is accused of seeking to profit from the region’s reserves of minerals used in global electronics.
“We will continue the march of liberation all the way to Kinshasa,” Corneille Nangaa, head of a coalition of groups including the M23, told reporters in Goma.
“We are in Goma and we will not leave… for as long as the questions for which we took up arms have not been answered,” he said.
After days of intense clashes that left more than 100 dead and nearly 1,000 wounded, according to an AFP tally, some Goma residents on Thursday ventured out to take stock.
