The United Nations peacekeeping chief said Friday that the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) rebel group is advancing on the South Kivu provincial capital of Bukavu, after seizing control of Goma in the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, DR Congo) earlier this week. Meanwhile, UN agencies warn that the situation continues to deteriorate for civilians trapped by days of intense fighting in and around Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.
Early in January, M23 rebels broke a ceasefire agreement signed between DRC and neighboring Rwanda last July and launched a major offensive along the eastern edge of DR Congo with the support of the Rwandan army. For its part, Rwanda has denied accusations that it is supporting the rebels.
Fighting between the M23 armed group, aided by the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF), and the Congolese army and allied groups has displaced hundreds of thousands of people in North and South Kivu provinces since the beginning of the year. Hundreds of civilians have been killed and thousands injured in recent weeks.
Large numbers of Rwandan troops have crossed the border to reinforce the M23 offensive, raising fears of a full-scale war between the two East African neighbors. Rwanda stepped up its support for the M23 in 2024.
"The information I have is that M23/RDF are about 60 kilometers north of Bukavu. They seem to be moving quite fast," Jean Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, told reporters.
"There is an airport in the vicinity of where they are, I think a few kilometers south, which is Kavumu."
If they succeed in taking the airport, as they did in Goma, it would be another "significant step," he said.
Until June, the United Nations had peacekeepers in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province. The UN reached an agreement with the government to begin a phased withdrawal of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), closing its Bukavu office and withdrawing from South Kivu province last year.
In areas under M23 control in South Kivu, including the key commercial town of Minova, the rebels have occupied schools and hospitals, expelled displaced persons from camps, and forced the local population to fight for them and perform forced labor, the UN human rights office said Friday.
Since the beginning of the current crisis, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has also documented summary executions by the M23. Volker Türk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said he was particularly concerned that this latest escalation of violence could increase the risk of conflict-related sexual violence.
OHCHR has documented cases of conflict-related sexual violence by the Congolese army and allied combatants, and is investigating additional reports of rape - also by Congolese troops.
In addition, DRC officials report that at least 165 women were raped by male inmates during a jailbreak of more than 4,000 inmates from Goma's Muzenze prison on January 27, when the M23 began its assault on the city.
"We continue to receive urgent requests from civilians for protection and are working with UN colleagues and other partners to ensure their safety," OHCHR said.
Meanwhile, the UN peacekeeping chief echoed the Secretary-General and the Security Council in calling for diplomatic engagement to stop the fighting and lead to a political solution.
In the North Kivu provincial capital of Goma, which fell to the rebels earlier this week, the situation is "tense and volatile," Lacroix said.
But calm is gradually being restored, along with some basic services. UN peacekeepers have also been able to resupply some of their positions, he said. The airport, however, remains inoperable after sustaining heavy damage to its runways during the recent fighting.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Congolese government assessed that 700 people had been killed between Sunday and Thursday, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters. Another 2,800 wounded are receiving treatment in health facilities.
"These numbers are expected to rise as more information becomes available," Dujarric said.
According to WHO, hospitals in Goma are overwhelmed by the influx of wounded. The UN agency says the risk of spreading Mpox, cholera and measles has risen as people leave healthcare facilities where they have been treated for these diseases.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said humanitarian agencies in Goma were continuing to assess the impact of the crisis, including widespread looting of warehouses and offices of relief organizations.
Before its capture by the M23, Goma, normally a city of about 2 million people, was home to about 3 million people, including 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). More than 1.5 million of these were estimated to be children.
In Goma, access to safe drinking water remains cut off, forcing people to rely on untreated water from Lake Kivu. Without urgent action, OCHA warns that the risk of waterborne disease outbreaks will continue to increase.
Water and electricity have been cut off for a week and unexploded ordnance remains a serious obstacle to the movement of people, humanitarian agencies and peacekeepers. The disruption of Goma's water supply over the past few days heightens the risk of the spread of cholera and other water-borne diseases.
On Thursday, the local Congolese Red Cross, with support from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), continued to remove numerous bodies throughout Goma to reduce public health concerns, including the spread of disease.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday that several displacement sites, including on the outskirts of Goma - where more than 300,000 displaced people had sought refuge - had been partially or completely emptied as people have fled the fighting.
IOM warned that the displaced men, women and children are in urgent need of shelter, food, clean water, medical care and protection services. Essential items such as blankets, mats and cooking utensils are also badly needed.
“Millions of people were already displaced by years of conflict in eastern DRC, and humanitarian needs were massive. With the current alarming upsurge in fighting, an already dire situation is rapidly becoming very much worse,” said Amy Pope, IOM Director General, in a statement.
On Thursday, Bruno Lemarquis, the Humanitarian Coordinator in the DR Congo, issued a statement in which he said Goma is now facing the devastating consequences of the hostilities, with massive humanitarian needs and severely strained response capacities.
He called on the international community to step up its support in the face of a worsening humanitarian crisis.
“Humanitarian actors remain on the ground, mobilized to scale up their response, but without adequate resources, the current crisis risks deteriorating even further. Immediate action is essential,” he said
Lemarquis also called on all warring parties to protect civilians and ensure access to goods and services essential to their survival.
Even before the latest round of violence, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was facing one of the world's largest and most under-reported humanitarian crises, characterized by widespread human rights violations and massive forced displacement.
DRC has a population of approximately 118 million, with an estimated 21 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2025, one of the highest numbers in the world. At least 8 million people in the country have been forced to flee their homes. Before the escalation, 4.6 million people were already internally displaced in the two eastern provinces of North and South Kivu.
In both provinces, civilians have been subjected to indiscriminate bombing and sexual violence, while the use of heavy weapons in populated areas has resulted in numerous civilian casualties, including children. The M23 is the most prominent of more than 130 armed groups reportedly operating in the strategic and resource-rich eastern DRC.
The eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri have been plagued by violence for decades as non-state armed groups seek to gain control of the country's valuable mineral resources. Many of those forced to flee have been displaced several times. Humanitarian needs are urgent, with protection, food, shelter and sanitation among the top priorities.
In 2024 alone, more than 3 million people were forced to flee their homes in eastern DRC. More than 1.1 million Congolese refugees are living in neighboring countries. In addition, the DRC itself hosts more than 500,000 refugees from other countries.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.