Congo’s M23 rebellion risks sparking a regional war

Dozens of familiesMMM sit under a large tarpaulin on bare volcanic rock, surrounded by plastic buckets and bundles of clothes. Deafening blasts of artillery fire punctuate the sound of children wailing at one of the many displacement camps outside Goma, the main city in the east of Congo. 23 rebels are entrenched just six miles away. “My husband was killed,” says Aline Batachoka, a fresh arrival huddled together with other young women for warmth. “There was war and massacres.”Mrs Batachoka is one of an estimated 135,000 people who fled the Rwanda-backed 23 in the past month as it advanced through Masisi, a patch of North Kivu province west of Goma. She and the other newly displaced have joined about half a million people who had already sought refuge in the wretched camps on the city’s outskirts from earlier 23 offensives. With the front line now straddling what was the last government-controlled road to Goma, rebels surround the city by land (see map).