DR Congo violence: Panic in Goma as M23 rebels advance - BBC News

The rebel M23 group is blocking the main roads into Goma as it continues to wreak havoc in the east.

13 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, EPAImage caption, Goma's population has swelled in recent days as people arrive by motorbike and foot fleeing advancing fightersBy Samba Cyuzuzo & Mayeni JonesBBC Great Lakes & BBC NewsEmile Bolingo is not sure how long he and other residents of Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, can hold out.

This major city in the region, with about two million people, has been cut off from the farms that feed it for several days.

It is the latest episode in a resurgence of fighting that has seen tens of thousands added to the nearly seven million who have been forced from their homes in the country because of multiple conflicts.

Rebels from the ethnic Tutsi-led M23 movement are blocking the two main roads into Goma from the north and the west and preventing produce from getting through.

"We are scared of going hungry if the [Congolese army] do not liberate any of the main roads very soon. You can feel the panic here… people are very scared," Mr Bolingo told the BBC.

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