Goma Carries Violent Memories and Signs of Hope After M23 Takeover

In a neighborhood in the heart of Goma, Roger Lufwamba, 55, a father of five daughters, remembers how the fall of the city upended his life. As M23, the Rwandan-backed militia, stormed the city, a bomb fell on his house; he watched two of his children die from the blast and rushed a third, injured, to the hospital.

“It was chaos everywhere,” he said. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in Goma in late January 2025, and more than 2,800 Congolese were wounded, international aid groups say. A photographer who had been at a hospital recalls doctors and nurses suddenly overwhelmed with gunshot victims and staying home for days until the city quieted.

In December, President Trump presided over what he described as a peace deal between Rwanda and Congo, the two major powers on either side of the conflict. Clashes between rebels, government forces and allied militias continue, and many experts have called the deal largely symbolic.

Congo, Goma

goma, m23, rwanda, congo, casualties, bomb blast, humanitarian aid, peace deal, president trump, rebels