Corneille Nangaa, leader of the AFC rebel alliance that also includes M23, addresses a press conference at the Serena Hotel in Goma, North Kivu province in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo January 30,

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday that about 1 million people have been displaced since the beginning of 2025 from Goma city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) seized by the March 23 Movement (M23) rebels.

At the time, one of the worst reported atrocities of the conflict took place – when more than 150 women prisoners and their children were killed in Munzenze Prison - after an intense fire broke out. The UN says most of the women were probably subjected to sexual violence before they died.

Defeated soldiers from the Southern Africa Development Community’s (SADC) peace mission were seen leaving Goma by road without their equipment or uniforms.

The M23 armed group is advancing on strategic zones in the eastern DRC after taking two key cities, Goma and Bukavu, according to the United Nations on Wednesday. U.N. Security Council members met on Wednesday in hopes of averting the widening of conflict into a regional war.

This insecurity extends to Goma itself, where there have been reports of crime and targeted violence, including home invasions and kidnappings. The UN peacekeeping mission for DRC, MONUSCO, has described the security situation in areas seized by M23 rebels as “unstable and highly unpredictable.

The conflict has accelerated in recent weeks, with the rebels taking the key city of Goma in January and Bukavu, another provincial capital, a few weeks later.

Passengers arriving from Bukavu disembark from the Emmanuel boat, on its first trip between Bukavu and Goma since the city was taken by M23 rebels, in Goma, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo February 18,

Rwanda is facing global pressure over allegations it supports the M23 group which, since January, has captured swathes of eastern Congo including the cities of Goma and Bukavu, an

The United Nations says the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have abducted at least 130 sick and wounded men in two hospitals in a major city in eastern Congo.

Rwanda-backed rebels who captured eastern Congo’s major city of Goma have targeted relatives of fleeing Congolese soldiers