GOMA, DR Congo: The M23 armed group, which controls large parts of eastern DR Congo, on Friday described a call by the French president to reopen Goma airport as “inopportune.”
President Emmanuel Macron said the key airport would open “in the coming weeks” for humanitarian flights, during an international conference on Thursday on the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The region — bordering Rwanda with abundant natural resources but plagued by non-state armed groups — has suffered extreme violence for more than three decades.
The crisis intensified with the 2021 resurgence of the M23 — a Rwandan-backed armed group fighting the Kinshasa authorities — and came to a head early this year when the militia seized the key cities of Goma and Bukavu.
Goma airport was the scene of fierce fighting during the city’s capture in January and has since remained closed.
