One year into M23 control, residents are struggling to get by in DRC’s eastern capital

At Goma’s central market, once the beating heart of the local economy, traders waited for customers who were becoming increasingly scarce due to the economic crisis that has engulfed the city since it was occupied by the M23 rebel coalition a year ago.

Rwanda-backed M23 is the most powerful of over 100 armed groups vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo, near the border with Rwanda.

The conflict has created one of the…