THOUSANDS FLEE M23 RESURGENCE IN GOMA

East DRC is witnessing a mass exodus, amid fears the M23 rebels will capture the region’s biggest city, Goma. In the last few days, thousands have abandoned their homes and fled, while rockets have been raining down on the city’s outskirts. The Congolese army appears to be on the back foot but the government has vowed it will hold the city.

M23 - allegedly armed by Rwanda (something Kigali strongly denies) - has been making gains recently in the country’s mineral-rich provinces of North and South Kivu. The conflict, decades old, has seen over a million Congolese leave the country, and over 7 million internally displaced - in the grip of a humanitarian disaster.

It’s feared the intensifying conflict could draw in neighbouring countries in the Great Lakes region if the violence is not decisively quelled fast.