Dicey near future prospects for Goma residents as M23 seal city northwest and north

(PHOTO: M23 casing the Goma branch of the Central Bank of Congo, on

Monday, November 26, prior to their heist of the next day)



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Corroborative sources in Goma say that M23 were moving today some of

their troops north--as demanded last Saturday at Kampala by the

Declaration of the heads of state of the International Conference for

the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR)--and northwest, towards Sake, 25 km

away, a city they captured shortly after seizing the provincial

capital of North Kivu.



M23, who, by this maneuver, are thus making short shrift of the ICGLR

heads of state's Declaration, also appear to be leaving behind in the

city some of their heavily-armed troops clad in brand new DRC National

Police (PNC) uniforms.



In Kinshasa, government officials and politicos who were banking on

M23 cranking out cities and territories they conquered hand over fist

are up for a rude awakening!



(Talking of banks, DRC Media Minister Lambert Mende added more details

today about the heist carried out by M23 Tuesday at the Goma branch of

the Central Bank of Congo. M23 robbers apparently worked day and night

using time-tested bank robbery tools: electric saws, drills, blow

torches, sledge hammers, etc. They had commandeered generators

beforehand as there was no electricity in the city.)



This apparent redeployment, which in effect seals Goma, would for the

foreseeable future continue to cut off the city and its surroundings

from Bukavu and South Kivu.





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PHOTO CREDITS: Jerome Delay / AP