The residents of the capital of North Kivu province, which fell into the hands of the M23 rebel group, backed by the Rwandan army, have been anxiously rediscovering the state of their town under rebel control.

The security situation in the city of Goma is deteriorating, and journalists can no longer report, the media has been forced into silence, there is no stable access to electricity or the internet. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is urgently alerting the international community to this crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and calling on the parties involved in conflict to respect and protect the public’s right to information.

The Rwandan-backed armed group M23 moved south as it closed in on a key military airport in DR Congo on Friday, a day after pledging to take the capital Kinshasa and as international criticism mounted.

Residents of the besieged city of Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, say they are gripped by fear as gunshots continue to ring out around their homes, days after rebel forces claimed they had taken over.

The ICRC has treated more than 600 wounded and injured people since the start of January, of which around half were civilians. A large number of these civilians were women and children.

People flee the intensifying fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo region of North Kivu, as the M23, a Rwanda-backed anti-government armed group, almost completely encircles the capital of North Kivu.

Authorities say the governor of eastern Congo’s North Kivu province has died from injuries sustained in fighting on the front line as M23 rebels close in on Goma.

A rebel alliance claimed the capture of the biggest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mineral-rich eastern region this week, pushing back against resistance from government troops backed by regional and UN intervention forces.

Since neighboring Rwanda’s Tutsi genocide, eastern DR Congo has faced relentless war. Beyond security concerns, Kigali profits immensely from exploiting the region’s vast mineral wealth, fueling ongoing conflict and instability.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - The military governor of North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo has died from injuries suffered on the frontline during an offensive by M23 rebels in the east, a government source and an internal UN report seen by Reuters confirmed on Friday.

Wearing T-shirts and flip-flops, scores of young men lined up outside a stadium in eastern DR Congo on Friday, ready to take on the latest armed group to unleash bloodshed and terror in this violence-scarred,