Rwanda-backed rebels<\/a> are seeking control of the eastern region’s vast mineral wealth.<\/p>\nAt the checkpoint M23 rebels peered into my car, asked my driver a few brief questions, then waved us into the devastated city.<\/p>\n
The rebels faced no opposition – it was like they had always been there.<\/p>\n
I made my way to one the few hospitals treating wounded victims and as I entered, cries of pain echoed through the corridors.<\/p>\n
I met Nathaniel Cirho, a medical doctor who, in a strange role reversal, sat in a hospital bed with a sling around his left arm.<\/p>\n
A bomb had landed on the house next to his and Mr Cirho and his neighbours were struck by the resulting shrapnel.<\/p>\n
“I sustained an injury on my arm. A 65-year-old man was injured on his abdomen. After surgery, he didn’t survive,” he said with regret.<\/p>\n
Several wards away, an elderly woman lay in her another hospital bed, hooked up to an oxygen tank.<\/p>\n
She had plucked a bullet from her own arm after a fierce exchange of fire broke out in her neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
“Suddenly my hand felt cold, and I realised I had been shot,” she said, struggling to find her speech.<\/p>\n
For days, she had nursed the gunshot wound without help. She told me she was eventually escorted to a public hospital by M23 fighters.<\/p>\n\n\nM23 rebel troops walk freely through the city [Getty Images]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The woman asked to be moved to a private hospital, where she is now receiving treatment, because she was not receiving adequate attention from the overstretched doctors.<\/p>\n
But even at this second hospital, medics were overwhelmed as an increasing number of patients came through the doors.<\/p>\n
“We have treated most of them because we had contingency plans,” a doctor, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said.<\/p>\n
He added: “On Sunday when the fighting began, we received 315 patients and we treated them.”<\/p>\n
But now, the hospital counts over 700 patients with various degrees of injury, the doctor told me.<\/p>\n
He spoke of receiving patients with “gunshot wounds to the head, others on the chest, stomach, hands and legs”.<\/p>\n\n\nA destroyed armoured vehicle is seen following clashes in the outskirts of Goma [Getty Images]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
As eastern DR Congo reels in political disquiet, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has warned that sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war by the rival parties.<\/p>\n
The doctor in this private hospital corroborated the UN’s statement, saying his facility has so far received about 10 victims of rape and gender-based violence.<\/p>\n
Outside the hospital and into the city centre, there was a mixture of serenity and circumspection.<\/p>\n
People walked past four bullet-riddled vans, witnessing what played out when they were sheltering for safety.<\/p>\n
Although the gunfire and explosions in Goma have all but died down, not all establishments are back to business as normal. A few shops have opened in certain streets, but not in others. Major banks also remain shuttered.<\/p>\n
Perhaps some remain wary that anything could happen amid the volatile security situation in the wider North Kivu province.<\/p>\n
“People are afraid\u2026 I am still afraid because those who caused the tension are still with us and we don’t know what is going on,” shop owner Sammy Matabishi said.<\/p>\n
“But the bad thing is that there are no people to buy from us, many have gone to Rwanda, [the Congolese city of] Bukavu, Kenya and Uganda.”<\/p>\n
He adds that traders who import goods from neighbouring countries have been unable to transport products into city.<\/p>\n\n\nAbandoned military gear lays on the floor outside the base of the UN peacekeeping unit [BBC]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Many residents I spoke to said they had come to terms with M23 running the place.<\/p>\n
And as an outsider I could see the rebels were intent on asserting their control.<\/p>\n
They had taken over the office of the North Kivu military governor, who they had killed as they advanced on Goma<\/a>.<\/p>\nFighters were also present in strategic areas around the city, while others patrolled the streets on pickup trucks, weapons in hand.<\/p>\n
During the whole time I was in Goma, I did not see a single active Congolese soldier.<\/p>\n
I did, however, see abandoned trucks emblazoned with “FARDC”, the French acronym for the DRC’s armed forces.<\/p>\n
Near the base of the UN peacekeeping mission (Monusco) – who have been tasked with protecting civilians from rebel forces – military fatigues, magazines and bullets were strewn across the road.<\/p>\n
“When M23 arrived here, they surrounded our army,” Richard Ali who lives nearby, told me.<\/p>\n
“Many removed their military uniforms, threw away their weapons and wore civilian clothes. Others ran away.”<\/p>\n\n\nA world Food Programme warehouse in Goma was looted during the fighting [Getty Images]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
As M23 rejoices over a major conquest, the Congolese government continues to refute the rebels’ claim that they have totally captured Goma.<\/p>\n
The authorities accuses M23 of illegally occupying their land -with the support of Rwanda – and promises to recover any lost territory.<\/p>\n
Although Rwanda used to consistently deny backing the rebels, its response has shifted to more defensive one, in which government spokespeople states that fighting near its border is a security threat.<\/p>\n
The rebels are now reported to be moving south towards Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, and have vowed to reach capital city Kinshasa.<\/p>\n
For now, Goma remains their biggest coup. Conditions there foreshadow what life could be come for many more Congolese people, should the M23 gain more ground.<\/p>\n
Additional reporting from the BBC’s Robert Kiptoo and Hassan Lali in Goma<\/em><\/p>\n