Mount Goma

In the aftermath of its withdrawal from Goma, the M23 suffered a series of heavy defeats at the hands of the Congolese army, which was backed by a multinational force. The M23 were subsequently expelled from the country. M23 fighters then agreed to be re-integrated into the army in return for promises that Tutsis would be protected.

People who fled M23 rebels around Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, have found themselves with nowhere left to go.

M23 rebels claim they now control the Congolese city of Goma—an act Congo's government described as a 'declaration of war.'

STORY: Rwandan-backed rebels marched into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's largest city on Monday, according to witnesses.That's prompted thousands of people, including Congolese soldiers, to flee across the border into Rwanda.

Fleeing prisoners streamed from the torched jail as Rwanda-backed rebels claim they have captured the strategic city

The M23 militia, funded and directed by Rwanda, said it had seized the city of Goma, terrifying its people, many of whom sought shelter there after fleeing the rebel advance.

DR Congo soldiers have surrendered to Rwandan forces following fierce clashes with the M23 rebel movement in DR Congo's eastern North Kivu province, state-owned TV in Rwanda is reporting. The soldiers have been fleeing across the border to the Rwandan town of Rubavu, the report claimed in a video posted on X.

"It was a terrible night," local sources told Fides from Goma, the capital of North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was conquered today, January 27, by the rebels of the M23 movement.

In a statement, rebels urged residents to remain calm and for members of the Congolese military to assemble at the central stadium.

Congo has severed diplomatic ties with Rwanda as fighting between Rwanda-backed rebels and government forces rages around the key eastern city of Goma.