The military governor ofNorth Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has died from injuries sustained during fighting on the front line, local authorities say, as M23 rebel fighters close in on the provincial capital, Goma.
The circumstances around the death of Major General Peter Cirimwami were unclear, but Cirimwami, who led army operations in restive North Kivu in the eastern DRC, visited troops on the front line in Kasengezi, about 13km (8 miles) from Goma, on Thursday, the day of his death.
His death was confirmed by a government source, a military source and a United Nations source on Friday, all of whom spoke to the media on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak about the matter publicly.
M23 has made significant territorial gains in recent weeks, encircling Goma, which has a population of about 2 million people and is a regional hub for security and humanitarian efforts.
On Thursday, panic spread in Goma as rebels took control of Sake, a town 27km (16 miles) northwest of the provincial capital and on a road that is one of the last main routes into the city still under government control, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The UN warned that the raging conflict in North Kivu had displaced more than 400,000 people this year and could spark a regional war.
“The number of displacements is now over 400,000 people this year alone, almost double the number reported last week,” Matthew Saltmarsh, a spokesman for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said at a news briefing in Geneva on Friday.
Saltmarsh said the UNHCR is “gravely concerned about the safety and security of civilians and internally displaced people” in the east of the country.
“Heavy bombardments caused families from at least nine displacement sites on the periphery of Goma to flee into the city to seek safety and shelter,” he said, adding that many were living rough.
The United States, the United Kingdom and France on Friday called on their nationals to leave Goma while airports and borders are still open, issuing the advice in online statements or in messages sent directly by email or SMS.
M23 has been accused of widespread atrocities, including rape. More than two million people have been forced from their homes since the conflict restarted three years ago.
“We fled as a precaution because we know that when the enemy arrives in our village, they will forcibly recruit many young people,” Mumulirwa Baguma Destin, a displaced resident from Mukwija, told Al Jazeera.
M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich eastern DRC along the border with Rwanda in a decades-long conflict that has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.
This month, M23 captured the towns of Minova, Katale and Masisi, west of Goma. M23 seized Goma in 2012 and controlled it for more than a week.
The DRC, the UN and UN experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which is mainly composed of ethnic Tutsis who broke away from the Congolese army more than a decade ago.
Rwanda’s government denies the claims but last year admitted that it has troops and missile systems in the eastern DRC to safeguard its security, pointing to a build-up of Congolese forces near the border.
Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb, reporting from Nairobi in Kenya, said many people who have fled the fighting lived through M23’s 2012 offensive and are terrified of the group.
“We’ve met people in camps who say they don’t want to live under what they see as a foreign occupation,” he said.
But he said the refugee camps are also “notorious for poor sanitary conditions and for widespread sexual violence”.
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