The M23 rebel military monitors all public life in eastern Congo.Image: www.imago-images.de
The M23 rebels have been ruling eastern Congo for over a year. Anyone who doesn’t act must fear violence, imprisonment or death. This is what everyday life looks like in the country today.
Feb 28, 2026, 9:16 p.mFeb 28, 2026, 9:16 p.m
Constantin Leclerc / Zeit Online
“At three in the morning I felt the contractions. But I didn’t dare go to the hospital,” says Malaika Mumbere. Like everyone who speaks here, she doesn’t want to read her real name publicly. Mumbere lives in eastern Congo, where the self-proclaimed March 23 Movement occupies large parts of the resource-rich and fertile provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. The militia, M23 for short, infiltrates its people as mayors, governors, judges and watchdogs for every street. Anyone who criticizes them lives dangerously.
“I was so afraid for the baby.”
Malaika Mumbere
Mumbere feared that a patrol might mistake her for a thief if she were out in the middle of the night. “Then they’ll shoot you straight away.” She tormented herself until morning, fervently hoped that the child would not be born at home without a midwife. And what if a cesarean section were necessary? “It was terrible, I was so afraid for the baby. “But luckily I made it to the delivery room just in time,” says the young woman. Ultimately, their story cannot be verified independently, but anyone who speaks to people in the region hears similar things again and again.
The fighting in Goma is over, but the people are no freer.Image: keystone
As the rebels marched into the provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu, they shouted: “Don’t be afraid! We’ll free you!” A good year later, many people are afraid and only a few feel relieved.
Mumbere is constantly worried about her husband, her brothers, her cousins and her friends. The rebels would kidnap men and send them to the front, she says. The organization Human Rights Watch also accuses the M23 of forced recruitment and executions – as well as the militias that fight with the government army against the M23.
A conflict that has been unresolved for decades
The conflict in eastern Congo dates back to the Belgian colonial period. Since then, relocations and disputes over land, resources and political influence have repeatedly sparked fighting. In 2021, the M23 took up arms again. Their reason: They have to protect the Tutsi ethnic group. The M23 is the strongest of more than a hundred armed groups. They are usually formed along ethnic lines and use violence to enforce the interests of their community.
Mumbere tells of a friend who was arrested by the rebels when they sealed off another part of the city and took all the young men with them. The captors beat their acquaintance half to death and locked him with others in a container that stood in the blazing sun. “They didn’t give them any water, some died of thirst,” says Mumbere. The rebels left the bodies in the container. Her boyfriend was made sick by the stench of decay.
Displaced people in Congo.Image: keystone
At least he was released again. Sometimes the families have to pay ransoms of several hundred dollars. Other sons and fathers never come back. “We don’t know whether they killed him, whether he’s in a torture dungeon or at the front,” complains a woman whose brother-in-law was arrested in a bar after drinking one beer too many. The worst thing for the family is that “we cannot say goodbye to him with a funeral service.” Maybe he’s still alive.
The exploitation continues
The M23 receives support from neighboring Rwanda. It sends soldiers, weapons and trains the fighters. According to information from the United Nations, the rebels are supplying mineral resources that they have in eastern Congo plunder. The mines near Rubaya alone, a town in the Masisi Mountains near Goma, produce 15 percent of the coltan that industry worldwide uses in cell phones, computers, pacemakers and hearing aids. Just a few weeks ago, a landslide there cost the lives of several hundred people. These included children and women who worked in the mines. The rebels are continuing the business under the same precarious working conditions for small-scale miners as the companies that received their license from the government in the capital Kinshasa.
The M23 rebels now rule Goma in their own way.Image: keystone
The militia leaders promised the population that they would put an end to arbitrariness and corruption. They drove out or killed the marauding government soldiers who previously robbed the population. They have repaired the power and water lines, patched potholes, tarred roads, organized church services and football games, and they directed traffic. Unlike the police officers of the Kinshasa regime before, the law enforcement officers on the M23 have not yet extorted any money from drivers and taxi drivers. However, the police carry rifles like those at the front. Everyone now follows the traffic rules.
When the M23 took power, some business owners in Goma believed that the economy would now improve in one of the poorest regions in the world. “They will clean up corruption, like in Rwanda,” says an investor who imports technical equipment. Taxes and import duties are transparent for the neighbors.
Many companies and aid organizations are now cutting their projects in the occupied areas and laying off large numbers of employees. “The militia burdens us with exorbitant taxes and threadbare regulations that make it impossible for us to do business,” complains a company boss. It’s a balancing act anyway to work in the occupied territories. The rebel leaders are under international sanctions. Anyone who cooperates with them risks committing a criminal offense.
Catholic believers in North Kivu province.Image: keystone
Everyday life comes to a standstill
When a delegation of German entrepreneurs wanted to enter Goma to explore the market, the M23 stopped them at the border. The militia did not recognize the visas issued by the Congolese embassy in Berlin. The businessmen had to buy visas from the rebels again. Humanitarian aid workers also have to pay for visas at the M23 border. Sometimes the militia simply refuses to allow them to enter the country. In return, the official immigration authorities cancel the visas issued by the M23. Development workers who work in rebel areas and in the unoccupied areas therefore have two passports or they persuade the M23 to stamp the visa on an extra document instead of on the passport.
In the occupied territories, banks and airports have been closed for a year. The machines are empty. In any case, only a few people in the Congo have credit cards. Anyone who wants to withdraw money from their bank account has to travel via Rwanda and Uganda to the unoccupied city of Beni. It is located 350 kilometers north of Goma. Because of the ongoing fighting, it is too dangerous to travel through Congo. Most Congolese have temporary documents issued at the border because they do not have a passport. The M23 and the official immigration officials tear up the other side’s papers so that the travelers have to pay three times for a return trip. This comes to the equivalent of 85 euros per person, not including costs for bus, taxi, petrol or hotel.
«[Die Kinder] crying and shaking with fear.”
Chantal Kabuya
“It’s a nightmare,” complains Chantal Kabuya. Her husband works at a bank – actually. Because the branch in Goma is closed, he only receives a fraction of his salary. “We can no longer afford a trip with the children on Sundays,” she complains. And that where the little ones are completely traumatized by the fighting. “When the lid of the cooking pot falls off, they run under the table, cry and shake in fear,” says Kabuya.
Negotiations for months
Added to the trauma are worries about money. The M23 has reintroduced primary school fees, which the government had just abolished, says the mother of five. Every household now also has to pay for garbage collection, even if you have a compost heap at home and burn the residual waste. The equivalent of two euros per month may seem small. But for poor people this is a daily income. Kabuya also regrets the money because the M23 collects the garbage irregularly and only dumps the waste into an open landfill.
The rebels recently returned to collect the garbage tax. “But I had no more money. Then they threatened my husband in front of the children that they would beat him up.”says Kabuya. She is also annoyed by the cleaning service that the rebels demand every Saturday from eight to eleven. The sweeping week is mandatory and is monitored. “If you don’t track, you risk a beating.”
“Europe will be the loser.”
Jean-Claude Mputu, Deputy Director of Resource Matters
The M23, Congo and Rwanda have been negotiating directly and indirectly with each other for months. They have agreed to ceasefires several times, and under pressure from Washington, Rwanda and Congo even signed a peace treaty. Just don’t let anyone hold it armistice says Jean-Claude Mputu, deputy director of the non-governmental organization Resource Matters. And the Washington Treaty primarily serves the USA, which thereby secured privileged access to natural resources. The USA wanted to push back Chinese dominance in the Congo. “Europe will be the loser,” says Mputu.
The people in the occupied territories also have little hope for the talks. “It doesn’t matter to anyone how we’re doing,” says Kabuya. The fight for Goma is still in her bones. 3000 dead in three days. She tells me about an acquaintance who had to bury her little girl in the yard, because the corpse began to decompose. Without a priest, without a blessing. You have to get over a shock like that first.
The M23 recently celebrated “one year of liberation”. Their leaders cheered over paved streets and the beginning of a new era in Congo. There were no condolences for the relatives of the dead.
This article was first published on Zeit Online. watson may have changed headings and subheadings. Here’s the original.