DRC: North Kivu, Beneath the Surface

In North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), life goes on despite the capture of the major city of Goma in January 2025 by the armed group AFC/M23, backed by Rwanda –according to the United Nations. Bars are open, people move through the streets. Yet fear remains everywhere. Civilians in eastern DRC still endure the daily consequences of a conflict that never truly stopped: arbitrary arrests, forced recruitment, sexual violence, and farmland that has become too dangerous to work. Georges and Bienvenu, members of the MSF team in the DRC, bear witness to what they see on the ground, from Goma to the Rutshuru territory.