PRETORIA, January 31. /TASS/. At least 700 residents of the city of Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have been killed and some 2,800 have received injuries as a result of clashes between government troops and rebels, Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for the UN Secretary General, said.
"The World Health Organization and its partners conducted an assessment with the government that's between the 26th and yesterday (January 30 - TASS), and report that 700 people have been killed and 2,800 people injured that are doing treatment and health facilities," he said. "These numbers are expected to rise as more information becomes available."
According to the Okapi radio station, it was noted at DRC President Felix Tshisekedi’s meeting with local officials from the North and South Kivu provinces that many dead bodies have not yet been removed from Goma’s streets. Meanwhile, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix stated that the situation in Goma is calming down, although it is still unstable, with sounds of shots being occasionally heard.
Units of the March 23 (M23) rebel movement sized Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province with a population of about two million. Now, they are in complete control of the city, with sporadic shootouts occurring inly in its northernmost neighborhoods. On Thursday, the rebels announced the establishment of a Goma governing committee. Electricity and water supplies were resumed to houses in the city’s southern neighborhoods on January 30.