Yesterday’s Sunday worship service had to be interrupted and church visitors quickly return to their homes. The million city of Goma has been under attack for four days, but tonight the fighting intensified when the rebel groups M23 and AFC advanced against the central parts of the city.
There lives the local pastor Banyene Bullere Boncoeur, who tells us that the rebels seem to have encountered resistance from government forces.
– It’s a gunfire outside my door sometimes. My family is shaken and scared.
Seeking shelter at the pastor’s
Pastor Banyene has closed himself in an isolated room so that the shooting does not interfere with the interview. Because he is a church leader, about twenty has gathered at his home to seek protection.
The battles have already driven hundreds of thousands on escape in the region, but Pastor Banyene himself cannot flee because of his responsibility role in the church and at a local hospital, he says.
– This is not the first time, we are almost used to things like this in Congo. But it is especially scared the children and women, because anything can happen.
Thousands of prisoners in the streets
Due to the fighting, parts of Goma are without electricity and thus also without water, which interferes with the work at some of the city’s hospitals.
In connection with the rebels entering the city today, thousands of prisoners broke out of the central prison.
In videos they can be seen on the city’s streets, and Pastor Banyene is worried about how they can threaten the city as well. He cannot answer what is the goals of the rebel groups, but says that they have revenge against the government in Congo and that they say they “regain their right”.
– Now we hope for diplomacy from the international community, and the various countries involved. Because here at the local level we are exhausted, and do not know what to say anymore.