BBC visits the city of Dr Congo under rebel control

When I first drove to Dr. Congo’s Eastern Rubber City, it was difficult for me to say that he had entered a conflict zone.

The rubber residents filled the streets a few miles from the border with Rwanda: travelers went to work, street vendors sold products next to the road and the taxi drivers rushed to win customers.

But it only took a few minutes to notice that there was a new “government” in the city.

When I reached a control point near a police post previously led by the Congolese authorities, the firearms fighters of the M23 rebel group stopped my car.

Last week, M23 had captured rubber, an oriental city of almost two million people, after an illumination advance in the eastern region of Dr. Congo.

At least 700 people in the city were killed and about 3,000 injured when the rebels faced the Army of Dr. Congo and its allies, according to the UN and the Congolese government.

M23, which consists of ethnic tutsis, says they are fighting for the rights of minorities, while Dr. Congo’s government says that the Rebels backed by Rwanda They are seeking control of the vast mineral wealth of the eastern region.

At the M23 control point, the rebels looked at my car, asked some short questions to my driver and then stirred to the devastated city.

The rebels did not face opposition, it was as if they had always been there.

I went to one of the few hospitals that treated the victims wounded and, when I entered, the screams of pain echoed the halls.

I met Nathaniel Cirho, a doctor who, in a strange investment of roles, sat on a hospital bed with a sling around his left arm.

A bomb had landed at home next to his and Mr. Cirho and his neighbors were beaten by the resulting shrapnel.

“I touched an injury to my arm. A 65 -year -old man was injured in his abdomen. After surgery, he did not survive,” he said with regret.

Several rooms, an old woman lay in her hospital bed, connected to an oxygen tank.

He had started a bullet from his own arm after a fierce fire exchange broke out in his neighborhood.

“Suddenly, my hand felt cold and I realized that they had shot me,” he said, struggling to find his speech.

For days, the gunshot wound had been breastfed without help. She told me that she was finally escorted to a public hospital by M23 combatants.

The woman asked to be transferred to a private hospital, where she is now receiving treatment, because she was not receiving adequate attention from overloaded doctors.

But even in this second hospital, doctors were overwhelmed when a growing number of patients crossed the doors.

“We have treated most of them because we had contingency plans,” said a doctor, who did not want to be appointed for security reasons.

He added: “On Sunday when they started the fight, we received 315 patients and we treat them.”

But now, the hospital has more than 700 patients with several degrees of injuries, the doctor told me.

He talked about receiving patients with “gunshot wounds, others in the chest, stomach, hands and legs.”

As Eastern Dr Congo staggers in political concern, the UN Human Rights High Commissioner’s Office warned that sexual violence is being used as a gun of war by rival parties.

The doctor in this private hospital corroborated the UN statement, saying that its installation has so far received about 10 victims of gender violation and violence.

Outside the hospital and in the city center, there was a mixture of serenity and circumspection.

People went beyond four trucks with bullets, witnessing what was developed when they took refuge for security.

Although shots and rubber explosions have calmed down, not all establishments return to normal businesses. Some stores have opened in certain streets, but not in others. The main banks also remain closed.

Perhaps some remain cautious that anything can happen in the midst of the volatile security situation in the widest province of North Kivu.

“People are afraid … I’m still afraid because those who caused tension are still with us and we don’t know what is happening,” said store owner Sammy Matabishi.

“But the bad thing is that there are no people to buy us, many have gone to Rwanda (the Congolese city of) Bukavu, Kenya and Uganda.”

He adds that merchants who import goods from neighboring countries have not been able to transport products to the city.

Many residents with whom I spoke said they had accepted M23 directing the place.

And as strange I could see that the rebels intended to affirm their control.

They had taken care of the Office of the Military Governor of Northern Kivu, which had killed while they advanced in rubber.

The combatants were also present in strategic areas of the city, while others patrolled the streets in trucks, weapons in hand.

For all the time I was in rubber, I did not see a single active Congolese soldier.

However, I saw abandoned trucks stamped with “Fardc”, the French acronym for the RDC Armed Forces.

Near the base of the UN Peace Maintenance Mission (Monusco), who have had the task of protecting civilians from rebel forces, military fatigue, magazines and bullets were spread through the road.

“When M23 arrived here, they surrounded our army,” Richard Ali told me, who lives nearby.

“Many withdrew their military uniforms, threw their weapons and wore civil clothes. Others escaped.”

As M23 rejoices for an important conquest, the Congolese government continues to refute the affirmation of the rebels that they have fully captured to rubber.

The authorities accuse M23 of illegally occupying their lands with the support of Rwanda, and promises to recover any lost territory.

Although Ruanda used to constantly deny the support of the rebels, his response has changed to a more defensive one, in which government spokesmen claim that fighting near their border is a threat of security.

Now it is reported that the rebels move south to Bukavu, the capital of southern Kivu, and have promised to reach the capital of the capital Kinshasa.

For now, rubber is still its greatest coup d’etat. Conditions foreshadow what life could come for many more congroving people, in case M23 wins more land.

Additional reports by Robert Kiptoo and Hassan Lali of the BBC in rubber