Explainer: Why is eastern Congo's M23 conflict escalating?
Internally displaced civilians from the camps in Munigi and Kibati, carry their belongings as they flee following the fight between M23 rebels and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, January 26, 2025.
A three-year insurgency in Democratic Republic of Congo's mineral-rich east has intensified since the start of this year, with M23 rebels seizing control of more territory than ever before and vowing to take the largest eastern city, Goma.
The United Nations has warned that the fighting risks spiralling into an all-out conflict in Africa's Great Lakes region akin to two devastating wars between 1996 and 2003 that cost millions of lives.
