People living in Goma on the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern border with Rwanda have spoken of their fear and acute hunger after the M23 rebel group swept into the city earlier this week after a rapid advance in recent weeks.
‘I curse this war’: hunger and fear in Goma after rebel takeover M23 rebel group swept into Congolese city after a rapid advance in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, M23 declared its intention to remain in the city and a day later Corneille Nangaa, head of Alliance Fleuve Congo (Congo River Alliance), the political coalition backing the M23, asked residents “to go back to normal activities”.
M23 is the latest in a string of ethnic Tutsi-led insurgent groups that have operated in mineral-rich eastern DRC since a 2003 deal was meant to end wars that had killed 6 million people, mostly from hunger and disease.
Travel by boat, which many people use to carry supplies, has effectively been banned since M23 occupied Minova, a port town along Lake Kivu, last month.
