Hospitals in Goma are struggling to cope following fierce fighting with Rwanda-backed rebels, which has seen hundreds of people killed.
At Kyeshero Hospital, beds are full of patients with traumatic injuries. Prince Mungazi had a bullet wound to the leg and had to be carried by healthcare workers around the wards.
“The soldiers asked me for money, and I told them I had nothing. Then they fired bullets. One that hit me and another missed,” he said, not clarifying who the soldiers were fighting for.
Though M23 cemented their control of Goma over the last week, the rebels continued advancing into neighbouring South Kivu province and were approaching its capital Bukavu on Friday.
Goma has long served as a hub for humanitarian aid in the troubled region, and millions are at risk with humanitarian operations being brought to a standstill due to the fighting.
For now, food and medical supplies have little means to arrive in Goma.
Doctor Horace Kashema said the hospital was swamped with serious injuries, including amputations. “We are so overwhelmed,” he said, noting that the slowdown in fighting gave him hope. “But our supplies will run out soon. We don’t have enough.”
M23 is the most potent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits critical to much of the world’s technology.
They are backed by around 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, far more than in 2012, when they first captured Goma and held it for days in a conflict driven by ethnic grievances.
They were eventually pushed out of DRC after mounting international pressure on Rwanda.
Analysts say pushing them back this time will be more difficult.
From a bed at Kyeshero Hospital, Patrick Bagamuhunda said the M23 takeover of Goma was his first time experiencing war. “This war has caused a lot of damage, but at least we are still breathing,” he said, unable to move with his leg in a full-length cast.
“So many people have died, and we don’t know how far this war will go.”
Africanews/Shakirat Sadiq
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