KINSHASA, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Rebels in Congo were at the gates of the eastern city of Goma on Sunday after pushing back U.N. peacekeepers and government troops, but a spokesman for the M23 rebels said they did not plan to take the city.
M23 spokesman Colonel Vianney Kazarama said rebel fighters had advanced to within 2 km of Goma, after four days of clashes.
"We're not going to take the airport, we are responding to an attack by the army... We're just doing this to break the capacity of the FARDC (Congolese army)," Kazarama said.
Colonel Olivier Hamuli, a spokesman for the Congolese army, spoke to Reuters briefly by telephone before the line was cut.
"There is combat about five kilometres from the airport," he said.
More than three quarters of a million people have fled their homes since the latest fighting in eastern Congo erupted in April when a group of soldiers mutinied to form the M23 group. (Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Rosalind Russell)
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