DRCONGO-UNREST

A Congolese traffic police officer (C) affiliated to the M23 fighters directs traffic on the roads around the Birere Market in Goma on February 17, 2025. Columns of M23 fighters allied with Rwandan troops on February 16, 2025 entered the centre of another key city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as the African Union highlighted growing fears that the strife-torn country could break up. Scores of people have fled since the fighters reached outlying districts of Bukavu, capital of South Kivu province, on February 14, 2025. It was barely defended by the Congolese armed forces (FARDC). The fall of the city of one million people gives the M23 total control of Lake Kivu, following its capture of Goma, capital of neighbouring North Kivu province, at the end of January 2025. (Photo by Michel LUNANGA / AFP) (Photo by MICHEL LUNANGA/AFP via Getty Images)