Emergency in Goma: fundraising launched
Given the extremely emergency situation in Goma – in the Democratic Republic of Congo – AMU has launched an extraordinary fundraiser to support the population.
Dramatic situation in Goma: the causes
In just one day, last January 27 , there were 3,000 deaths in Goma, including five hundred women burned alive in the city’s central prison after being raped by M23 soldiers.
The M23 is a roaming army in the North Kivu region of Congo, near the borders of Uganda and Rwanda; it has existed since 2012 and no national or international force, including the UN, massively present there for decades, has ever managed to stop it in its bloody raids.
In recent years, the M23 has taken control of all the areas of interest from the mining perspective in North Kivu, with a well-predicted sequence: invasion of a territory, indiscriminate massacre, panic among the population and its mass emigration to Goma (150,000 inhabitants in 1990, over two million now), emptying of the conquered areas or subjugation of the population.
With the arrival of Donald Trump in power, the opportunity for further domination arose: the declarations of the new president of the United States of America of closing the humanitarian channels supported by the United States have awakened the M23. On the day of the inauguration of the new president, January 20, the army invaded the highlands of Masisi: on the same day, 100 thousand displaced people arrived in Goma.
In Masisi there is the Rubaya site, a single immense open-pit mine and tunnels 20-30 meters deep. Rubaya alone has 15% of the world’s reserves of coltan and tantalum , minerals essential for the miniaturization of the electrical circuits of smartphones and other electronic devices today.
After Masisi it was Minova’s turn to the southwest, and so the circle around Goma closed.
Massacre of innocents in Goma
On January 27, 2025, the M23 army – nearly 10,000 soldiers – entered Goma from the west. A bomb ripped through the hospital’s neonatal ward. 
The population found itself caught between various fires: M23, Rwandan army, regular Congolese army (FARDC), Wazalendo army (formerly May may, i.e. former child soldiers), UN forces collaborating with the Congolese. According to our sources, the clashes caused 3,000 deaths.
The city was left without electricity, water, or internet for days.
Today Goma is occupied only by half , that is the “Goma” municipality, while the other municipality of which it is formed, “Karisimbi”, is controlled by the Congolese (FARDC) and Wazalengo armies; North Kivu has two governors, one appointed by Kinshasa and one by Kigali.
(The information and assessments on the situation in Goma and in the entire region of the north-eastern DRC are taken from the press release issued on 8 February by the Association of Italian NGOs (AOI) and the NGO Incontro fra i Popoli ETS which has been present in that territory for years)
The intervention of the AMU
For years, AMU has supported various actions in and around Goma, and since 2023 it has supported a microcredit project, and some aid for the displaced people who flock to the city. Now the urgency is to respond to this new and wider emergency.
