Germany scraps Rwanda meeting over DR Congo fighting

Germany said Tuesday it had cancelled a planned meeting with Rwandan officials next month over Rwanda's role in fighting in Democratic Republic of Congo.

A lightning offensive in the eastern DRC by fighters from the M23 armed group and Rwandan forces has led to clashes around the besieged city of Goma and a spiralling humanitarian crisis.

A spokesman for Germany's development ministry said it had "cancelled the government consultations planned for February with Rwanda" and was "co-ordinating with other donors about further measures".

"There can be no business as usual amid the current escalation," the spokesman said in a statement.

He said "talks on development cooperation can only resume when Rwanda and M23 end the escalation and withdraw."

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Clutching their possessions in a chilly field, Congolese refugees told AFP on Tuesday they had no option but to flee to Rwanda as militias and the DR Congo military used bombs in a battle over the regional capital Goma.

Home to more than one million people, Goma has been repeatedly targeted in decades-old clashes between state armies and militias in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A renewed escalation since last year has led to the M23 armed group entering Goma alongside Rwandan soldiers on Sunday, trapping residents and also traders.

"Things changed very fast for the worst last night, and we knew we were not safe there anymore," said Destin Jamaica Kela.

The 24-year-old student is among some 1,200 refugees registered by Rwanda after fleeing the city of Goma over the nearby border in the last 24 hours.

"We heard bombs falling the whole night, and we heard screams at night, people calling for help," he told AFP.

"But for our safety, we couldn't go out to help."

The following morning, he gathered his courage to check on his neighbours -- but was horrified to find that "a bomb had fallen on their house killing the entire family."

"Bombs were falling and killing other people everywhere, we saw dead bodies," he said.

Burundian Nzisabira Salim, one of 47 other truckers stuck in the city, told AFP: "It was business as usual until it wasn't".

"We found ourselves in a war zone," he said, describing how his cargo, money and food were stolen.

"The last few days have been the hardest I've ever experienced, no water, no food, nowhere to sleep."

Salim said they were stranded until the M23 group "escorted us to the border" -- where they joined others fleeing the conflict.

Humanity has left people

"Last night we had received up to 225 but this morning the number of refugees has come to an estimated 1,200," Rwandan emergency official Habinshuti Phillippe told AFP.

He said they were providing basic necessities, including shelter, meals and medical care.

People continued to arrive at the camp, roughly eight kilometres (five miles) from Gisenyi centre, pitching more tents in the damp ground following a torrential downpour overnight.

Phillippe said more than 500 Rwandans had also fled their homes and were being sheltered in another camp.

On Monday, officials said five civilians in Rwanda had been killed near the border.

Kela, who lived with his family in Goma, said they "didn't know that things would be this bad".

On Monday, hospital sources told AFP that at least 17 people had been killed in the city with nearly 370 wounded.

After the devastation, Kela took his two brothers, two cousins and his mum and fled over the border.

"Humanity has left people," he said.

"Instead of staying here and the whole family dies, we have to take destiny in our hands and flee."