title:A Cycle of Violence: M23 rebels in Congo
name:Phil Moore (AFP)

01

M23 rebels withdraw through the hills having left their position in the village of Karuba in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on November 30, 2012. Some thousand rebels withdrew from the region today, ahead of an expected full pull-out of Goma tomorrow.

02

Uruguayan United Nations peacekeepers look through binoculars at M23 rebel positions on the outskirts of Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on November 18, 2012. M23 made advances towards the city today, causing thousands to flee an impromptu IDP camp established some 8km from Goma.

03

The bodies of two men killed near the village of Mabenga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s restive North Kivu province, lie with their hands tied behind their backs in the jungle beside the Rwindi river in this picture taken on July 29, 2012. M23 rebels accuse the Congolese army of massacring up to 70 people here, throwing their bodies into the river. M23 claim that the army accused those killed of having a “familiar relationship” with the rebel group.

04

A truck of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) leaves a firing position during a heavy rain storm through a village in Jomba, in D. R. Congo’s restive North Kivu province on May 17, 2012. FARDC soldiers were conducting operations today against rebels in the M23 movement in the hills surrounding the border town of Bunagana, near to the Rwandan and Ugandan border.

05

A Congolese lady carrying her child walks past a dead government soldier on the road from Sake towards Minova in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on November 23, 2012. Several bodies lay around the town of Sake, some 26km from Goma, following fighting between M23 rebels and Congolese government troops yesterday.

06

M23 rebels stand at a small base in the hills of Kanyarucinya on the outskirts of Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on November 19, 2012. Rebel and army positions have remained the same since fighting ended yesterday between government soldiers supported by the United Nations, and M23 rebels.

07

A Congolese M23 rebels sleeps in the back of a truck as they wait to withdraw on December 1, 2012 from the city of Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Hundreds of Congolese M23 rebels began a withdrawal on December 1 from Goma as promised under a regionally brokered deal, after a 12-day occupation of the city. Around 300 rebels, army mutineers who seized Goma last week in a lightning advance, were seen by an AFP reporter driving in a convoy of looted trucks north out the main town in Democratic Republic of Congo’s mineral-rich east.

08

A child watches as Congolese government army (FARDC) soldiers return to the military barracks in Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on December 3, 2012. FARDC forces re-entered the city this afternoon for the first time since being ousted by M23 rebels on November 20, who left last Saturday.

09

Residents of Goma react during an address by M23 spokesman Colonel Vianney Kazarama in the Volcanoes Stadium in the restive eastern city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on November 21, 2012. M23 rebels called on the population of Goma to come to the stadium today in an attempt to calm and reassure civilians following the fall of the city yesterday by the rebel group.

10

Congolese children sit on a step in Sake in front of a group of M23 rebels who controlled the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo town this morning, November 22, 2012. Rebels took the town yesterday, but were engaged in heavy gunfights this afternoon as government-allied militia tried to retake it.

11

A group of displaced Congolese gather around fish being smoked in Mugunga in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on November 23, 2012. Fresh fighting yesterday between M23 rebels and government troops in Sake caused tens of thousands to flee the area yesterday, taking refuge in Mugunga.

12

Thousands of Congolese flee the town of Sake, 26km west of Goma, following fresh fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo town on November 22, 2012. Fighting broke out this afternoon causing people to flee the town and head east, towards Goma, to the camps for the internally displaced in the village of Mugunga.

13

Congolese gather around the roadside at an impromptu site for the displaced in Kanyarucinya on the outskirts of Goma under the shadow of the Nyiragongo volcano in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on August 3, 2012. Thousands of people fleeing fighting between M23 rebels and the Congolese army have fled the areas of Kibumba and Rugari, coming towards the provincial capital.

14

A displaced Congolese girl with a child stand in a classroom of primary school being used for shelter in the village of Kibati on the outskirts of Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s restive North Kivu province on July 25, 2012. An international aid agency at the site siad that around 8000 people have fled the villages north of Goma to Kibati as fighting continued today between M23 rebels and the Congolese army around the town of Rumangabo.