United Nations truck drivers and Congolese civilians who fled from Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, following fighting between M23 rebels and the army, cross the border post in Gisenyi, Rubavu district, Rwanda on January 28, 2025.
Tanzanian authorities on Tuesday said they were working on a plan to evacuate civilians in the besieged city of Goma in eastern Congo, as clashes between Congolese army and M23 rebels continued.
Government spokesman Gerson Msigwa acknowledged receiving pleas by Tanzanian truck drivers requesting help to get out of the battle zone, adding that the government was monitoring the situation closely via its embassy in Kinshasa.
“The problem we have is that the city of Goma is currently a war zone, so it won't be a simple task to gain entry and evacuate the Tanzanians there. We are considering the best way to handle this challenge in order to ensure the safety of our citizens,” Mr Msigwa told
Earlier on Tuesday, some 43 Tanzanian truck drivers and turnboys plying the DRC route posted videos on social media in a deserted truck yard near Goma airport amid sounds of gunfire in the background.
"We have been cooped up here for the past four days -- no food, nowhere to go, no sign of the situation out there cooling down anytime soon," one of them said.
The number of casualties from almost a week of elevated fighting in Goma is still a matter of conjecture. Various sources reported a death toll of between 17 and 25 on Monday alone, when M23 rebels who are believed to be backed by Rwanda overran the city in mineral-rich eastern DRC.
Msigwa said there have been no reports of any Tanzanian national being harmed in the violence so far.
He said the government was assessing the number of Tanzanian civilians in Goma to work on how to safely remove them all at once from the area.
