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00:00The desperate evacuation is ongoing for hundreds of thousands of people inside the city of Goma which has been besieged for days with
00:07fighting between the Congolese forces supported by peacekeepers including the UN peacekeeping mission against an advancing rebel group called
00:15M23 backed by neighboring Rwanda. The foreign minister in the DRC has described the great risk
00:21she said of the city being taken soon in what she called an onslaught by the Rwandan-backed rebels.
00:27There's been a mass jailbreak taking place in the past few hours, 3,000 inmates released.
00:32You've seen pictures from the Palace of Justice which was looted as well. These are
00:37eyewitness images on a camera phone.
00:39I want to talk to somebody who's been living there up until very recently, literally in the last 24 hours has fled.
00:46Let's talk to the Anglican Bishop of Goma,
00:49Martin Gordon. Martin, it's great to talk to you this evening. First of all,
00:53just tell me about the last 24 hours for you, what it was like, what made you decide to flee?
01:01Thank you. We actually fled on
01:05Saturday, so it's been 48 hours.
01:07We followed advice given by the British government,
01:12but also local advice. I was encouraged by many of the clergy in Goma and others
01:19to leave.
01:20On Friday night, things were getting difficult in the city. The power lines had been hit by the
01:28M23 rebels, and
01:30much of the city was without water, and there's also an internet blackout on
01:36Thursday evening, and there's also another one today. The food
01:40prices had been rising since the M23 had taken the port of
01:44Minova earlier last week, so all was pointing towards a growing humanitarian crisis,
01:51and so we at that point felt that whilst we could, and whilst it was safe, and before the M23 did
01:59fully take control of the city, we thought it best to leave.
02:03Tell me two things, Martin. What was it like with your family?
02:05Where are you now? Are you safe? And what was it like as you tried to leave the city?
02:09What was the scene around you like?
02:11So, we left
02:14before the M23 took the city, so we left in relative peace.
02:19I think the advice is always, if they were to take the city, then to lie low rather than to try and flee at that
02:25point. So, I mean, the greatest challenge we had crossing the border was actually getting our car papers in order at this time round.
02:33But as we left, what we saw was many of our expatriate
02:38colleagues, particularly those with children, on Saturday, that was the day that they chose to flee.
02:44So, we fled in relative peace, but then as things transpired yesterday on Sunday, things got much,
02:53much more panicky. So, yesterday, Sunday, was the day that the Rwandan army crossed over into Goma,
03:01over the eastern border, with many of the M23 rebels as well. And that's when they tried to
03:10take the airport. And then gradually, yesterday afternoon, evening, and then into the early hours
03:15of this morning, was when they took control of many parts of the city. And that's really when panic
03:23started to set in. People not knowing what was going on, who had control of which parts of the city.
03:30I think the wisdom up until that point had been if the M23 did again take control of the city,
03:36it might be like 2012, it'd be relatively quick. And peace or some semblance of peace
03:44would be established fairly quickly. But as we speak, so the information I've had later this
03:49afternoon is there's still a lot of ongoing fighting in and around the city, as many of the
03:56Congolese soldiers and the Wazalendo, the freedom fighters, the local militia,
04:01are refusing to give up control of the city of Goma.
04:06Martin, so for you, I mean, at the moment, you said to me a second ago that before Goma had
04:12fallen, is it your information from those you're speaking to that they have taken the city?
04:17The, I mean, information is patchy, but they seem to, they've headed down from the north.
04:28They took one of the local areas near Ogongo, the territory, they went into the administrator's
04:36office and set up shop in that office. They, I would say they, from what I know, are in control
04:44of perhaps the majority of the city. But certainly the Rwandan information would be,
04:51the information coming out of Rwanda is that they have taken control of the city.
04:55The Congolese government have, I think, yet to concede the city, which is why it's still
05:03very precarious for anyone who is living there. Everyone has been advised to stay at home,
05:09to not go out. There has been, I mean, as mentioned earlier, there's been a prison
05:13break, there's been widespread looting as well. Some humanitarian supplies at the airport and our
05:19main market in Birere has been looted. So there is, there's some chaos on the streets. There's
05:26a lot of confusion on the streets and not helped by the current internet blackout.
05:32Martin, great to talk to you. We're going to try to talk to you through the week and try and
05:35establish a connection with you. I know your life is up in the air, the rest of your families and
05:39hundreds of thousands of people who live in Goma right now.
05:42Thank you so much for talking to us here on France 24.