The fall of Goma: 16 days of chaos and fear – in pictures
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Congolese photographer Arlette Bashizi documented for Reuters the lead-up to and aftermath of the seizure of her home city by Rwandan-backed M23 rebels
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22 January: In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, people trying to escape the fighting farther south flee across Lake Kivu from Minova, arriving in the city of Goma five days before it falls to the rebel M23 forces.
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22 January: The internally displaced people are fleeing clashes between the M23 rebels and the Congolese army in the Kalehe area, south of Minova.
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22 January: People move from the Nzulo camp for internally displaced people on the outskirts of Goma, into the city.
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23 January: Usama Mukulu locks up his store in a deserted street in Goma city centre as the rebels draw closer.
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25 January: Members of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (Monusco) oversee the evacuation of non-essential UN staff as fighting reaches the outskirts of the city.
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25 January: Non-essential UN staff and their families enter the Monusco compound as they evacuate Goma.
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29 January: After seizing Goma, the M23 rebel group expels mercenary troops who had been fighting with the Congolese army. The mercenaries, many of whom are eastern Europeans, were marched across the border to Rwanda.
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29 January: Military uniforms and equipment lie in the streets of Goma, abandoned by Congolese army soldiers as they fled ahead of the advancing M23 rebels.
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30 January: Corneille Nangaa, centre, the leader of the AFC rebel alliance that includes M23, holds a press conference at the Hotel Serena in Goma.
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30 January: Civilians watch as members of the M23 rebel group patrol the streets.
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30 January: Local men and boys are taken in trucks to training camps.
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30 January: Members of the M23 rebel group patrol the streets.
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30 January: Civilians draw water from Lake Kivu.
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31 January: Dr Sidibe Abdourahmane and his colleagues operate on a patient with a suspected shrapnel wound at Goma’s CBCA Ndosho hospital.
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1 February: Wounded people are treated at the CBCA Ndosho hospital.
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2 February: Noella Kavira sits as her friend braids her hair at a school in Goma, where they are taking refuge with their families.
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2 February: A civilian walks past the body of a soldier.
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3 February: People walk near the burial site of victims of the fighting in the city.
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3 February: Red Cross team members bury victims of the fighting at the ITIG cemetery in Goma.
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3 February: A reference tag marks a burial at the cemetery.
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3 February: Benedicte Kyayi takes down her tent in the Mugunga camp where she took refuge with her family during the fighting. She and other displaced people have started returning to their villages.
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3 February: People who were displaced returning home.
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4 February: A Monusco armoured vehicle drives through Goma.
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5 February: Traders sell goods in streets damaged by fighting.
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5 February: People stand in front of a petrol station damaged in the fighting.
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6 February: Willy Ngoma, an M23 spokesperson (in military fatigues), at a public meeting held by the rebels at the Unity stadium in Goma.
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6 February: Civilians at the M23 meeting in the Unity stadium.
