Congo's M23 rebels take control of Goma airport, embassies attacked in capital

Rwandan security officers escort members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), who surrendered in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, following fighting between M23 rebels and the FARDC, in Gisenyi, Rwanda, January 27, 2025. REUTERS/Jean Bizimana

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) -Rebels seized the airport of east Congo's largest city Goma on Tuesday, potentially cutting off the main route for aid to reach hundreds of thousands of displaced people, after capturing the city in an offensive that left dead bodies lying in the streets.

M23 fighters marched into Goma on Monday in the worst escalation since 2012 of a three-decade conflict rooted in the long fallout from the Rwandan genocide and the struggle for control of Congo's mineral resources.