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  • 2 weeks ago
Transcript
00:00The roofs are ripped apart and the walls pockmarked with bullet holes.
00:04In Goma, the neighborhood...
00:05...of Cahembe still bears the scars of the fighting.
00:08This house is an example.
00:10There are bullets here and bomb fragments...
00:15...even inside the house.
00:18There are bullets here.
00:20A year ago, the Congolese army and pro-government militia groups...
00:25...clashed with M23 rebels in the city centre.
00:28Trapped amidst the fighting...
00:30...Augustin Basime suffered a leg wound.
00:32His wife was killed by a shell.
00:36I can't sleep.
00:37I've lost my appetite when I think about my wife and those days of fighting.
00:40If we'd known it was going to be so bad, we would have fled.
00:43We just thought the soldiers were going to fight each other.
00:45...and that it would pass.
00:49It's still impossible.
00:50To know how many people were killed during the fighting in Goma.
00:53These graves are testament to the violence.
00:55Civilians killed in the fighting were buried here in haste.
01:00With the M23 in control of the city, Goma has become a symbol of Congo's military defeat.
01:05For the rebels, there's now an image to uphold.
01:08They claim to have liberated the city and its...
01:10...governance must appear exemplary.
01:12In practice, that means so long ago.
01:15That's a traditional term for compulsory labour.
01:18Men are obliged to pick...
01:20...to pick up rubbish and repair roads.
01:23The movement asked us to do it.
01:25And we responded to this call to do Salongo every Saturday.
01:28To clean up the city.
01:30Goma is getting a facelift.
01:33Goma is getting a facelift.
01:35The markets and schools are open.
01:36The rebel administration is operational.
01:38But the banks remain...
01:40...and closed.
01:41Off camera, residents say that the city is ruled by fear.
01:45Many civil society actors have fled.
01:47Such as this representative from North Kivu.
01:50He says he gets sent lots of videos of civilians being whipped.
01:55...and beaten.
01:56The people live in atrocious suffering.
02:00Add to that the terror of rebels that forcibly arrest, who persecute...
02:05...who forcibly recruit young people to join their rebellion...
02:10You can see that these people live...
02:15...surrounded by trauma every day.
02:17...surrounded by trauma every day.
02:19The M23...
02:20...has always denied the allegations.
02:22In Eastern Congo, humanitarian organizations...
02:25...say that abuses against civilians have reached alarming levels...
02:28...and that all parties to the...
02:30...conflicts are committing them.
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