The crucial ferries were suspended for several days due to fierce fighting between the army and M23 rebels in the region.

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,

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.

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.

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

M23 rebels captured the city of 1.3 million people after it was abandoned by Congolese forces. Bukavu lies 101 kilometers south of Goma, which was captured by the rebels in late January. The M23 is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of eastern Congo's trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that's critical for much of the world's technology.

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.

Rwanda-backed rebels have captured two major cities in Congo’s mineral-rich east after a major escalation in their yearslong fighting against Congolese forces. The M23 rebels captured Goma and Bukavu

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.

Erasto Bahati Musanga, the rebel-appointed governor of North-Kivu province announced that Goma and Bukavu’s ports will reopen Tuesday

The BBC meets residents of Goma following the rebel takeover and those being forced by the M23 to leave camps.