Goma falls to Congo rebels UnN peacekeepers and a Congolese policeman stand in Goma, near the Rwandan border, shortly before the city fell to the M23 rebel militia. Photograph: Phil Moore/AFP/Getty Images Congo rebels have taken control of the eastern city of Goma after days of clashes with UN-backed Congolese soldiers, a spokesman for the M23 rebel group said on Tuesday. A Reuters witness reported seeing scores of heavily armed rebels walking through the city unchallenged as UN peacekeepers watched and small groups of residents greeted them. "The town of Goma fell at 11:33 local time, despite the attack helicopters, despite the heavy weapons, the FARDC (Congo army) has let the town fall into our hands," M23 spokesman Colonel Vianney Kazarama said by telephone. M23 is led by mutinying soldiers who rose up eight months ago, contending that Democratic Republic of Congo's government violated a 2009 peace deal that was meant to integrate them into the army. However, UN experts support the view that Rwanda, which has intervened in the country repeatedly over the last 18 years, is behind the revolt. Goma's capture would be an embarrassment for President Joseph Kabila, who won re-election late last year in polls that triggered widespread riots in Kinshasa and which international observers said were marred by fraud. The vast central African nation was shattered by wars between 1994 and 2003 that killed about 5 million people. Many eastern areas are still plagued by violence from a variety of rebel groups, despite UN-backed efforts to defeat them. The UN has about 6,700 peacekeeping troops in North Kivu, including some 1,400 troops in and around Goma.