Berliner Tageblatt - Romanian security contractors surrender amid DR Congo fighting

Rwanda-backed fighters controlled almost all of the DR Congo city of Goma, a key mineral trading hub, Wednesday after a lightening offensive.

A long line of men, many wearing jeans and T-shirts, flanked by armed Rwandan soldiers calmly entered Rwandan territory on foot via the Gisenyi border post, according to images filmed by AFP.

With the help of sniffer dogs, the Rwandan soldiers inspected their backpacks and other belongings, opened on the ground, before the men underwent body searches and registered.

"We weren't on a battlefield, we were here to train and help with artillery," one of the Romanians told AFP, only giving the name Emil.

More than 280 Romanian "mercenaries" fighting alongside Congolese forces have surrendered to M23 in the Rwandan border town of Gisenyi, Rwanda's army said on X.

They are being evacuated in buses to Kigali, according to the Rwandan Ministry of Defence.

In Romania, the foreign ministry said an evacuation of its citizens was "under way".

The ministry on Tuesday convened a crisis unit to address "the acute deterioration of the security situation" in the eastern DRC, where "Romanian citizens, private employees of the DRC government, are present on an army training mission".

Four of them were injured in the fighting, their leader Constantin Timofte told Romanian public television.

"The national army gave up fighting and we had to withdraw," he said.

Since late 2022, nearly 1,000 Western soldiers, working for two private military companies, have been in Goma.

One of the military contractors, Congo Protection, is managed in Goma by Horatiu Potra, a Romanian ex-member of the French Foreign Legion.

Congo Protection's mostly Eastern European soldiers are involved in training Congolese army units and protecting Goma. They have also joined in combat against the rebels.

Agemira, the other company, is run by French nationals and includes retired French military personnel.

It initially provided maintenance services to the Congolese Air Force but is now part of the military's operational command and has taken part in bombing raids on M23 positions.

M.Furrer--BTB