U.S. Citizens Advised to Evacuate Congo Amid Attacks on Embassies

The United States on Tuesday advised U.S. nationals to leave the Democratic Republic of Congo on commercial flights after hundreds of protesters attacked several foreign embassies and a United Nations building in the capital, Kinshasa.

The attacks came amid fury over a rebel offensive backed by neighboring Rwanda in Congo’s east. Anger at Congo’s foreign allies has been rising over what is seen as their failure to stop an assault on the key eastern city of Goma by M23, a militia that the United Nations and United States say is supported and directed by Rwanda.

“Due to an increase in violence throughout the city of Kinshasa, the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa advises U.S. citizens to shelter-in-place and then safely depart while commercial options are available,” a security alert published on the embassy’s website read.

The embassy issued the notice at the end of a tumultuous day in Kinshasa, where the State Department reported “violent protests” at multiple U.S. government buildings.”

Protesters burned tires and threw stones in front of the U.S. Embassy’s main compound, according to local news reports, and breached the site of a new embassy building that is under construction, according to an American official in Kinshasa who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preserve staff safety. The site was later secured and no one was injured, the official said.

The embassies of France, Rwanda, Uganda, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Kenya were also attacked.

Protesters broke into and caused a fire at the French Embassy, which Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s foreign minister, called “unacceptable” violence.

“Macron kills in Congo,” read a message left on an embassy wall, referring to President Emmanuel Macron of France, a favored ally of Rwanda. “You have long betrayed us.”

Protesters also looted the Rwandan Embassy, which was emptied in recent days after Congo expelled Rwandan diplomats.

“Rwanda makes our brothers in the east suffer,” said Taki Gires, a 21-year-old protester who broke into the embassy.

“We are looting their embassy not to get richer, but as an act of sabotage that they will remember, because we can’t remain victims while they live in peace,” he added.

Demonstrators also attacked the office of the U.N. humanitarian agency in Congo, according to a United Nations official, who referred to the situation as “total chaos.”

The M23 rebels have been fighting against Congolese armed forces and allied armed groups for territorial control in the mineral-rich eastern regions of Congo. Their latest offensive has displaced over 500,000 people since the beginning of the year, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

As the angry protests erupted in Kinshasa, gunshots rang out across Goma, 1,000 miles to the east, an area that was once a refuge for people fleeing M23’s advance as well as violence from other armed groups. Many are now fleeing again amid the M23 rebels’ fight to completely capture the city.

Rwanda denies supporting M23. Instead, it has accused Congo of failing to maintain peace in its eastern regions and threatening Rwanda’s own security by amassing troops near their border.

In a call on Monday with Congo’s president, Félix Tshisekedi, Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the M23 assault on Goma and affirmed U.S. respect for Congo’s sovereignty, according to Tammy Bruce, the State Department spokeswoman. Germany said it was suspending its upcoming meetings with Rwanda on development.

Despite widespread expectations that President Tshisekedi would address the nation on Tuesday, he has so far remained mostly publicly silent, leading protesters to voiced their anger at their leader, too.

“We’re wondering if there’s a president in our country,” said a protester, Dedieu du Ciel, who had broken into the Rwandan Embassy.

At a U. N. Security Council emergency meeting about the conflict on Tuesday, the second in two days, a top official for the U.N. peacekeeping operation in eastern Congo said in a televised address from Goma that the mission’s bases were overwhelmed with civilians and Congolese soldiers laying down weapons.

“Our bases are not safe,” Vivian van de Perre, the deputy head of the mission in Congo, said from a U.N. office in the eastern city, wearing a helmet and bullet proof vest.

Congo’s foreign minister, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, urged the U.N. Security Council to issue a joint statement condemning Rwanda — something it has so far failed to do.

“If the council fails, then it is the streets that are going to take charge,” Ms. Wagner said.