Francine Nsengiyumva, a widow with three children, endures hunger and harsh conditions at a makeshift displacement center in eastern Congo. Yet, like many others, she fears returning home.
The school-turned-shelter in Goma’s Lac Vert district is now a refuge for families fleeing the latest surge in violence after M23 rebels seized the city last week in the most intense escalation in over a decade. The insurgents claim they are restoring order and have urged civilians to return, but Nsengiyumva says her village, Nzulo, remains too dangerous.
“Those who took our land are still there, still killing and terrorizing,” she said while cooking over an open fire. “We will only return when there is peace.”
She is among hundreds of thousands displaced by renewed fighting since the start of the year. Many, like Floride Furaha, have been forced to flee multiple times. At the shelter, women speak of rampant sexual violence—an epidemic aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) had already warned about in North Kivu last September.
“This is why we fled,” Furaha said. “Many of us have been raped. They enter houses and assault mothers and daughters.”
On Friday, the United Nations accused both M23 and the Congolese army of serious human rights violations. Neither side has responded to the allegations.
Although Goma is now relatively calm after the takeover, fighting persists in neighboring South Kivu, where rebels are pushing forward. With no resolution in sight, many displaced families remain trapped between fear and an uncertain future.
