'I curse this war': hunger and fear after rebel takeover

People living in Goma on the Democratic Republic of the Congo's eastern border with Rwanda have spoken of their fear and acute hunger after the M23 rebel group swept into the city last week.

- By Ruth Alonga GOMA and Carlos Mureithi NAIROBI

"We are very afraid. This situation feels hopeless," said Judith Saima, a 28-year-old merchant in Goma, where heavy fighting that cut the city off from the outside world and left bodies piling up in the streets only subsided last Wednesday.

Access to food is a significant concern, after trade and agricultural supply routes were severed. "If this continues, we will all die, either from stray bullets or starvation," said 26-year-old Ngise Ngeleka, a studentneighbourhood living in the ULPG Ngeleka said her neighbour had been hit by a bullet at the beginning of the week and that his body was still lying uncollected in the street.

Adeline Tuma, who lives in the city with her four children, said: "We have nothing left to eat. My children cry from hunger. I make porridge without sugar. My shop has been looted. I curse this war. A new, grim chapter of our lives begins." The World Health Organization on Monday said that fighting in and around Goma had left at least 900 people dead, and nearly 2,900 injured, with the toll expected to rise.

Travel by boat, which many people use to carry supplies, was effectively banned since M23 occupied Minova, a port town along Lake Kivu, last month.