The takeover of Goma is yet another territorial gain for the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) rebel coalition, which includes the M23 armed group – sanctioned by the United States and the United Nations....It is also a swift expansion of the alliance’s foothold across swathes of eastern DR Congo – where rare minerals crucial to the production of phones and computers are mined – and is likely to worsen a long-running humanitarian crisis in the region.....Bintou Keita, who heads the UN mission in DR Congo, told the Security Council in a September briefing that “competition over exploitation and trade of natural resources” had escalated conflict between armed groups in the country’s east.

According to Keita, coltan trade from the M23-controlled Rubaya mining site is estimated to “supply over 15 percent of global tantalum production”, and “generates an estimated $300,000 in revenue per month to the armed group.”

M23 denied these claims, insisting its presence in the Rubaya area was “solely humanitarian.”

A report by the UN Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo, released in December, revealed that “at least 150 tons of coltan were fraudulently exported to Rwanda and mixed with Rwandan production...”

Fighting between M23, Congolese forces and other rebel groups has also forced many from their homes in the country’s east, with at least 400,000 people displaced just since the beginning of this year in North and South Kivu, the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR said in a statement...

UNHCR spokesperson Matt Saltmarsh added that “bombs have fallen” on camps housing those who’ve fled, resulting in civilian deaths, including of children...“Humanitarian access is nearly impossible, resources are stretched to their limits, and displaced families are left in dire need of food, clean water, medicine, and shelter,” Tchwenko said [Mercy Corps country director for DR Congo]...