'Enemy is next door': DR Congo town dreads advancing rebels

A woman in the wood market in Lubero, North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on December 18, 2024. Displaced people are pouring into Lubero, while DRC Armed Forces (FARDC) are trying to contain an offensive by M23 rebels. [AFP]

Life seems almost normal in the streets of Lubero, but the calm is deceptive -- the town nestled in the forested, misty hills of eastern DR Congo is under threat from an advancing rebel militia.

"The enemy is right next door," interim mayor Crispin Hinga told AFP, gravely.