Escalating violence in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, is bringing a new level of fear and devastation to people in the city.
We’ve shown you the camps for people who have been internally displaced by conflict in the DRC before. There’s one called Rusayo. Another is Mugunga. Yet another Lac Vert.
These are a few of the many shelters near the city of Goma where hundreds of thousands of people have fled to, leaving their homes and everything they knew in the hope of saving their lives from the horrific acts of violence inflicted on their towns and villages.
Now, more attacks by armed militia are forcing many to run again as the violence has escalated over the last few days.
Carrying everything they own on their backs, or for those who have them, on bikes, people who had already lost so much, now find themselves on the streets of the city in uncertain and terrifying times.
Humanitarian situation in the DRC
*This section has been updated on 31.01.2025
The humanitarian situation in the DRC was already desperate. By the start of 2025, 9.4 million people in the country were already IDPs – the shortened term for internally displaced people – those who have sought safety somewhere else within their own country. But those three small letters cannot possibly encapsulate the insecurity and chaos that drives people into situations where they become referred to by this acronym.
Since the start of January, a further 1.5 million people in the DRC, particularly around Goma, have had to flee their homes (or, in many cases, their tents in IDP camps) because of the escalating conflict. Reports suggest that 1,000 people have been killed in the current violence and at least 1,000 more have been seriously injured. A Church Times article that quoted Tearfund’s Country Director for the DRC, Poppy Anguandia, also spoke about how hospitals in Goma are ‘swamped’ and struggling to cope.
The city spent a number of days without electricity, water or internet access.
