One week ago, a rebel force known as the M23 took Goma, a crucial eastern city in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, marking the latest battle in the country's long-running civil strife.
The violence has created over 1 million
refugees since this summer, and so far, despite an expensive and extensive mission, the United Nations has been able to do little to actually keep the peace. On Nov. 27, the leader of
the rebel forces, Jean-Marie Runiga, said the rebels would ignore the deadline
set to hand over the city to government forces issued by
the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, a coalition of the DRC's
neighbors. Runiga told
reporters the rebels would continue to occupy the capital until a new set of
conditions were agreed on. Whether the rebels will advance to the city of Bukavu or attempt to spread the insurrection spread to the country's capital, Kinshasha, remains to be seen. As James Verini writes for FP from Goma, the civilian population is both sick of its government and yet afraid of reports of atrocities that follow the movements of the M23. Here's a look at the state of the country as
the violence continues.
Above, United Nations armored personnel carriers drive towards a U.N. base in Monigi, just outside Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on Nov. 18. Government soldiers were fleeing Goma as rebels advanced.
PHIL MOORE/AFP/Getty Images
The body of a dead Congolese army
soldier lies in the road between Goma and Kibati, in eastern Democratic
Republic of the Congo, on Nov. 18.
PHIL MOORE/AFP/Getty Images
The spokesman of the M23 rebel group
Lt. Col. Vianney Kazarama addresses a crowd at the Volcanoes Stadium
in Goma on Nov. 21.
Kazarama attempted to calm and reassure civilians following the fall
of Goma to M23 rebels.
PHIL MOORE/AFP/Getty Images
A Congolese police officer is seen
through a hole in the wall of a cell at Muzenze prison on Nov. 21 in Goma. Almost
all the inmates of Goma's main prison managed to break out after wardens
abandoned their positions to flee from the advancing rebels on Nov. 19. The M23 now
controls all of Goma and nearby crossing points on the border with Rwanda. A spokesman for the group called on Wednesday for President Joseph Kabila to
step down, saying he was not the legitimate winner of elections last year.
TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images
A Congolese boy runs through the town
of Sake, just outside of Goma, as gunfire erupted at the edge of the town on
Nov. 22. Thousands fled as gunfire and mortar explosions rocked the
village.
PHIL MOORE/AFP/Getty Images
Congolese people carrying their
children and belongings flee from Sake on a road linking Goma and Bukavu on Nov.
23, at the same time that regional leaders prepared for a summit on the crisis,
which the U.N. said had blocked access to camps sheltering tens of thousands of
displaced people. The local head of a relief agency
reported numerous casualties.
TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images
Congolese women wearing white headbands and holding DR Congo flags stage a demonstration asking for peace in the eastern region on Nov. 23 in Kinshasa.
Junior D. Kannah/AFP/Getty Images
A Congolese boy
stands in the Mugunga internally-displaced person (IDP) camp just outside of Goma on Nov. 23. The fighting has blocked access to all but one of 31 camps
for displaced people in the North Kivu region, the U.N.'s refugee agency said.
PHIL MOORE/AFP/Getty Images
A Congolese woman
leaves with her children and carries belongings as they flee from clashes
between the rebels and Congolese army soldiers on Nov. 23.
TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images
A woman stands in her ramshackle shelter during a food aid distribution conducted
by humanitarian agencies at a camp for IDPs in Mugunga on Nov.
24. The meeting of the regional heads of state went forward without a key
player -- Rwandan President Paul Kagame, whose country a United Nations panel has accused of backing the rebels -- and wrapped up quickly without success.
TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images
Above, police officers participate in a
registration exercise on Nov. 22, carried out by rebel group M23 at the Goma
stadium. The M23 called on members of the Congo police and military to register
for re-training by its troops in order to integrate them into the rebel
movement's growing forces.
TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images
Ammunition is scattered on the ground at the
former Congolese army headquarters in Goma on Nov. 23 as a rebel soldier talks
on his cell phone next to a truck full of government munitions that M23 captured
from fleeing government troops.
TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images
Government soldiers ride on the back of a truck, on Nov. 25 in Minova,
just south of Goma.
TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images
Chief of staff of the
Democratic Republic of Congo ground forces Col. Francois Olenga is seen with
his troops, on Nov. 25, near a base in Minova, about 30 miles south of
Goma. The fate of Goma remains unclear, although M23 has issued a set of
demands, and says they will withdraw from Goma if the government complies.
TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images
