The men of the March 23 Movement (M23) entered Goma, the major city in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), on Sunday, January 26. Three years after having relaunched the war, it took them just four days of a lightning offensive – supported by between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwandan soldiers according to the United Nations – to enter the capital of North Kivu. It was impossible to say how many of the city's districts they controlled by Monday afternoon, or whether they had taken up positions at the city's strategic points: the port, the airport and the army headquarters.

According to several witnesses Le Monde spoke to, the sound of small arms fire and heavy artillery continued to be heard throughout Sunday night, and violent fighting went on in and around the town on Monday morning, particularly in Gisenyi, Goma's twin town on the Rwandan side, where exchanges of fire took place between Rwandan and Congolese soldiers.

A mass escape took place at Goma's prison, which was set on fire, with some 3,000 inmates fleeing. In the midst of the chaos, there are not yet figures for casualties, even though this city of 1 million inhabitants is also surrounded by camps for displaced persons, sheltering at least as many in crisis humanitarian conditions.

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