When I first rushed into the eastern city of Gom, Dr. Kongg, it was difficult for me to say that I entered the conflict zone.
The residents of Goma filled the streets a few kilometers from the border with Rwand – passengers headed to work, the hawks sold the goods along the road, and the taxi drivers withdrew to win the customers.
But it only took a few minutes to notice that there was a new “government” in the city.
When I reached the checkpoint near the police post that had previously led Congoons, a rifle fighters from the M23 Rebel Group stopped my car.
Last week, the M23 captured Goma, the eastern town with almost two million people, after lighting in the eastern region of Dr. Kong.
At least 700 people in the city were killed and nearly 3,000 injured, while the rebels clashed with the Dr. Kong army and his allies, according to the UN -II Congenian government.
M23, consisting of ethnic tuts, say they are fighting for minority rights, while Dr. Konga says Rebels supported in Rwanda They seek control over the great mineral wealth of the Eastern region.
At the M23 control point, the rebels took a peek into my car, asked my driver a few short questions, and then waved us into a devastated city.
The rebels did not face opposition – it was like they were always there.
I went to one few hospitals that treated the wounded victims and as I was entering, the cry of pain echoed through the corridors.
I met Nathaniel Cirho, a doctor who, in an unusual turnaround, sat in a hospital bed with a strap around his left hand.
The bomb landed on the house next to his and Mr. Cirh and his neighbors hit the resulting Šrapnel.
“I injured an injury on my arm. A 65-year-old man was injured on his stomach. He did not survive after surgery,” he said with regret.
Several departments, an older woman lay in her second hospital bed, hooked up a tank with an oxygen.
She pulled a bullet out of her own hand after a fierce exchange of fire broke out in her neighborhood.
“Suddenly my hand felt cold, and I realized I was shot,” she said, struggling to find my speech.
For days, she nurtured the wound from firearms without help. She told me that they eventually took them to a public hospital by the M23 fighter.
The woman asked to move to a private hospital, where she is now being treated, because she did not receive appropriate attention from the overdled doctors.
But even in this other hospital, the doctors were overwhelmed because an increasing number of patients entered the door.
“We treated most of them because we had plans for insight,” said a doctor, who did not want to be appointed for security reasons.
He added, “On Sunday, when the fighting began, we got 315 patients and treated them.”
But now, the hospital has over 700 patients with varying degrees of injury, my doctor told me.
He spoke of receiving patients with “cracking wounds in the head, others on his chest, stomach, hands and feet.”
As the East Dr. Congo wound in political upset, the UN office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that sexual violence used the rival parties as a weapon of war.
The doctor at this private hospital supported the UN statement, saying that his facility had so far received about 10 victims of rape and violence based on gender.
Outside the hospital and in the middle of the city, there was a mixture of serenity and pruning.
People passed four vans with bullets, testifying to what they played when they had made safety.
Although shooting and explosions in the crowd just died, not all institutions returned to work as normal. Several stores opened in certain streets, but not in others. The main banks also remain closed.
Maybe some are careful that anything could happen in the midst of an unstable security situation in the wider Province of Northern Kiva.
“People are afraid … I’m still afraid because those who have caused tension are still with us and we don’t know what’s going on,” said the owner of the Sammy Matabishi store.
“But it’s bad that there are no people who could buy from us, many went to Rwanda, [the Congolese city of] Bukava, Kenya and Uganda. “
He adds that merchants who import goods from neighboring countries could not transport products to the city.
Many of the inhabitants I spoke with said they had faced M23.
And as an outsider, I could see the rebels intend to confirm their control.
Have taken over the duty of a northern civ They killed as they progressed at the Gomi.
The fighters were also present in strategic areas across the city, while others patrol the streets on trucks, weapons in their hand.
Throughout the time, I was in the crowd, I did not see any active soldier of Kong.
However, I saw abandoned trucks decorated with “Fardc”, the French acronym for the DRC armed forces.
Near the UN Peace Mission base (Monusco) – who were tasked with protecting civilians from rebel forces – military tiredness, magazines and bullets were scattered across the street.
“When M23 arrived here, they surrounded our army,” Richard told me, but living nearby.
“Many removed their military uniforms, threw their weapons and wore civilian clothes. Others fled.”
While M23 is looking forward to the great conquest, the Congole Government continues to refuse to claim the rebels that they have completely captured Gom.
The authorities accuse M23 of illegally occupying their country – with the support of Rwanda – and promises to regain any lost territory.
Although Ruanda consistently denied the support of the rebel, his response switched to a defensive, in which the Government spokesperson states that the fight near his limit is a security threat.
Now it is said that the rebels move south towards Bukavu, the capital of the southern Kivu, and vowed to reach the capital of Kinshas.
For now, Goma remains their biggest coup. Conditions there predicted what life could come for many more congresses if M23 gets more soil.
Additional reporting from BBC Robert Kiptoo and Hassan Lali in the Gomi
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