Rwanda-backed rebels captured a key eastern Congo city a month ago Friday. Residents in Goma say they are struggling on various fronts even as the rebels try to consolidate their administration and restart normal life.

In terms of access to combat theaters, journalists from Goma, Bukavu, or Bunia have difficulty reporting live. “Many are faced with these limitations and prohibitions—only those who work with the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo [FARDC] report live in theaters of operations,” according to Musamba.

The latest conflict in eastern Congo has exposed endemic weaknesses in the country’s military, long known for corruption, extortion and abuse.

Businesses are struggling to survive, financial transactions are almost impossible, and people are having trouble making ends meet.

The number of people killed in Goma and its surroundings in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has exceeded 8,500 since January, when M23 rebels intensified fighting with government forces and captured the city, authorities said Thursday. Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said more than 5,700 wounded have been recorded.

UNICEF recorded nearly 600 cases of rape in the week following the fall of Goma, in the east of the country, at the end of January. All sides in the conflict are implicated in these crimes, from the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels to Congolese forces.

South Africa's armed forces say a group of soldiers critically injured in fighting in eastern Congo a month ago have been evacuated by the United Nations.

The Rwandan shore of Lake Kivu offers leisure and relaxation. Across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the same lake was recently the site of devastation and misery after a rebel offensive.

The rapidly evolving war in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has intensified since December 2024, displacing hundreds of thousands of people

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M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo have captured the eastern city of Bukavu with the backing of Rwandan forces, the second major city in the mineral-rich Kivu region to fall in three weeks.

As Rwanda-backed rebels strolled through the streets of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's second-largest city, President Felix Tshisekedi's office claimed it was actually still controlled by his army and "valiant" allied forces.