United Nations peacekeepers were braced for full-scale war in central Africa yesterday as Rwandan-backed rebels closed in on the Congolese city of Goma, sending government troops and civilians fleeing in panic.
Western aid workers described scenes of mayhem in the streets as columns of government tanks and military vehicles streamed out of the city and panicking civilians fled for cover.
Muddy roads were clogged with refugees fleeing into Goma after they had witnessed the retreat of government soldiers from the areas around their camps – only to find that troops had deserted the city too.
“There is absolute panic,” Karl Steinacker, an official with the UN refugee agency, told The Times by telephone from Goma. “The war has arrived in the streets. There are columns of army running away. They are basically abandoning the city.” Times Online