San Francisco Frontiers - Fear stalks DR Congo city Goma as artillery fire shakes ground

In the centre of the city of Goma schools were shut, although businesses remained open despite the fear gripping the population.

Trader Mamike Ramazni said the atmosphere in the city was "very tense", adding that "fear is gaining ground".

The M23, an armed group backed by Rwanda and its army, has almost encircled the main city in North Kivu province in its bid to control the mineral-rich zone.

Rwandan troops have been positioned since Thursday some 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Goma in Sake, according to several security sources and the Congolese army has not managed to regain control of the town.

Meanwhile reinforcements from Kinshasa, includingtroops from the United Nations Missions in the Congo (MONUSCO) and forces from the South African Development Community (SADC) have deployed.

The UN said in a statement that MONUSCO has "been actively engaged in intense combat".

Weary-looking fighters could be seen heading away from the town and pro-Kinshasa militia fighters known as Wazalendo caught their breath at the side of the road.

"We wanted to recover the bodies of two of our comrades, but we were caught under enemy fire and as we no longer had enough ammunition, we withdrew," one commander said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

These militia, from the surrounding area and fighting to defend their lands against what they call an invasion, are reputed to be more motivated than soldiers from other parts of the country.

Further down the road, other Congolese soldiers were retreating on motorcycles.

A high-ranking officer attempted to stop them, ordering them to return to their posts.

"It's difficult but we will win this war, it's sure and certain," he said.

He told AFP on condition of anonymity that a checkpoint had been set up to control the movements of soldiers and civilians and to stop deserters.

Journalists were prevented from approaching the fighting and cameras were banned.

Civilians came in large numbers to observe the fighting and were also kept at a distance.

They crowded at the side of the road as detonations from heavy artillery boomed nearby and made the ground vibrate.

- Displacement camps shelled -

When a explosion sounded close by, the crowd erupted into a brief panic, before returning to quietly watch.

"We are not scared of the detonations," said Eric Nzanzu, a displaced person from Sake.

"All the population is here to see how the fighting develops, to see if there will be traitors or not and to watch until the end," he said.

To the north of the city in the Nyiragongo territory, loud explosions rang out all day, and violent clashes had been raging since the morning.

The road that leads towards the front line there -- through a forest of tents normally inhabited by displaced people -- was deserted.

In a lull in the fighting, motorcycle taxis loaded with goods waited patiently beside the road.

A handful of civilians could be seen fleeing in the rain.

Shells or rockets, supposedly fired by M23 or Rwandan army forces posted in the surrounding hills, killed at least two civilians in the north of the city, according to local authorities.

Mortars and multiple rocket launchers were fired, with questionable accuracy, in densely populated areas.

"Intensive shelling has hit at least nine displacement sites on the outskirts of Goma, forcing families to flee into the city in search of safety," the UN Refugee Agency said.

More than 100,000 displaced people were crowded together on the outskirts of the city.

"All this creates a lot of psychosis, because tomorrow a bomb could fall on a neighbour's house, or even on mine," said Daniel Shemitima, a shopkeeper in Goma.

The fighting had also damaged high-voltage power lines, leaving part of Goma without power for several days, said Virunga Energies, one of the region's main electricity suppliers.

V.Mitchell--SFF