Goma in the context of "Humanitarian aid"

North Kivu (Swahili: Jimbo la Kivu Kaskazini) is a province bordering Lake Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital city is Goma. Spanning approximately 59,483 square kilometers with a population estimate of 8,985,711 as of 2020, it is bordered by Ituri Province to the north, Tshopo Province to the northwest, Maniema Province to the southwest, and South Kivu Province to the south, as well as Uganda and Rwanda to the east.

North Kivu's administrative history traces back to the colonial era when it was initially part of the Stanley Falls District within the Congo Free State. Following a series of territorial reorganizations, North Kivu became incorporated into Orientale Province, with Stanleyville (modern-day Kisangani) as the provincial capital. The area gained provincial status in 1962 but was demoted to a district under Mobutu Sese Seko's regime in 1965. It was formally reinstated in 1988 under Ordinance-Law No. 88/1976 and Ordinance-Law No. 88-031, which redefined the previous Kivu Province into tripartite separate provinces: North Kivu, South Kivu, and Maniema. Presently, North Kivu comprises three cities—Goma, Butembo, and Beni—and six territories: Beni, Lubero, Masisi, Rutshuru, Nyiragongo, and Walikale. A 2013 decree also proposed city status for Kasindi, Oicha, and Luholu. The province's eastern border is home to the Rwenzori Mountains, part of the Albertine Rift, which serves as a key freshwater source and supports a diverse ecosystem. North Kivu also hosts Virunga National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site home to endangered mountain gorillas.

The March 23 Movement (French: Mouvement du 23 mars), often abbreviated as M23 and also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army (Armée révolutionnaire du Congo), is a Congolese Rwandan-backed rebel paramilitary group. Based in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it operates mainly in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, which border Uganda and Rwanda. M23 is the principal member of the Congo River Alliance, a coalition of rebel groups in eastern DRC.

M23 was established in 2012 by former members of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), a Rwandan-backed rebel group largely composed of Rwandan-Congolese fighters. These combatants had previously integrated into the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) under the terms of a 2009 peace agreement, which also called for the transformation of the CNDP into a political party, reintegration of refugees, and incorporation of CNDP personnel into government roles. However, local opposition to the CNDP's leadership, accused of past human rights violations, impeded the full implementation of the agreement. On 6 May 2012, a group of these ex-CNDP fighters mutinied, forming M23 and citing the government's failure to uphold the peace accord. The group launched strikes during its first rebellion against the Congolese government that led to the displacement of large numbers of people. On 20 November 2012, M23 took control of Goma, the capital of North Kivu with a population of a million people, but was persuaded to withdraw from the city by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) because the Congolese government had finally agreed to negotiate with the rebel group. In late 2012, Congolese troops, along with UN peacekeeping troops, retook Goma, and the M23 announced a ceasefire and said that it wanted to resume peace talks.

The National Congress for the Defence of the People (French: Congrès national pour la défense du peuple, CNDP) was a Congolese Rwandan-backed paramilitary rebel group active in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo during the Kivu conflict. Established on 26 July 2006 by Laurent Nkunda in North Kivu Province, the CNDP emerged as the immediate successor to the Congolese Rally for Democracy–Goma (RCD-Goma), another Rwandan-sponsored rebel faction. With strong military and financial ties to Rwanda, the CNDP positioned itself as a defender of the Tutsi population and claimed to be combating the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a pretext it used to challenge President Joseph Kabila's government while engaging in the illicit extraction and commercialization of natural resources.

In 2002, Nkunda served as RCD-Goma's brigade commander in Kisangani. By early 2003, he inaugurated the political movement Synergie pour la paix et la concorde. The RCD-Goma remained active until a 2003 peace deal in South Africa led to a transitional government and the goal of unifying the country by integrating all major armed groups into a national army. However, fearing marginalization under Kabila's administration, the RCD-Goma sought to preserve its influence. Nkunda was appointed as the group's commander in North Kivu but declined to attend his swearing-in in Kinshasa, citing security concerns. Analysts suggested Rwanda positioned Nkunda as a proxy to retain its control over the eastern DRC. In December 2003, Synergie pour la paix et la concorde was formalized in Bukavu and established its operational base in Goma. Tensions escalated after the February 2004 arrest of Officer Joseph Kasongo in South Kivu for his alleged involvement in the assassination of President Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Clashes between the army and the RCD-Goma erupted, culminating in a ten-day siege of Bukavu, after which Nkunda's forces retreated. By December 2004, internal schisms within the RCD-Goma deteriorated when local Hutu leaders issued letters condemning the manipulation of Banyarwanda identity and pledging loyalty to the central government. This division prompted North Kivu's Governor Eugène Serufuli to shift allegiance to Kinshasa, signaling the decline of the RCD-Goma's influence. By mid-2005, Nkunda's network had grown as former RCD-Goma commanders defected to his cause. On 8 September 2005, he accused the government of ethnic cleansing in North Kivu and called for its removal by force. The same year, many ex-RCD-Goma soldiers defected to Nkunda's ranks amid the ongoing military integration process known as brassage. The government issued an arrest warrant for Nkunda, and in late 2005, the first major confrontation between defectors and national forces took place in Rutshuru Territory.

The 2008 Nord-Kivu campaign was an armed conflict in the eastern Nord-Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The upsurge of violence in the Kivu conflict saw heavy battles between the Democratic Republic of Congo's army, supported by the United Nations, and Tutsi militia under General Laurent Nkunda.

The fighting, which began on October 25, uprooted 250,000 civilians — bringing the total of people displaced by the Kivu conflict to more than 2 million. The campaign caused widespread civil unrest, large food shortages and what the United Nations called "a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic dimensions". After a week, a ceasefire was ordered by rebel forces amongst civil and military unrest in Goma. The rebel capture of all territory around Goma created a very fragile atmosphere of peace, caused enormous political damage, and called to question the efficacy of the peacekeepers stationed there. After a short cease-fire ordered by rebel general Laurent Nkunda, fighting broke out on November 17, after which a second ceasefire was called into effect on November 19. A buffer zone between rebel and government lines, referred to as a "humanitarian aid corridor", was created on November 23 to allow the transportation of aid to isolated civilian centers. On December 9, bilateral peace talks started between delegations from the Congolese government and Nkunda's rebels. Major fighting largely subsided after Nkunda's capture in January 2009.

Mount Nyiragongo (/ˌnɪərəˈɡɒŋɡoʊ, -ˈɡɔːŋ-/ neer-ə-GONG-go) is an active stratovolcano with an elevation of 3,470 m (11,385 ft) in the Virunga Mountains associated with the Albertine Rift. It is located inside Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 12 km (7.5 mi) north of the town of Goma and Lake Kivu and just west of the border with Rwanda. The main crater is about two kilometres (1 mi) wide and usually contains a lava lake. The crater presently has two distinct cooled lava benches within the crater walls – one at about 3,175 m (10,417 ft) and a lower one at about 2,975 m (9,760 ft).

Nyiragongo's lava lake has at times been the most voluminous known lava lake in most recent history. The depth of the lava lake varies considerably. A maximum elevation of the lava lake was recorded at about 3,250 m (10,660 ft) prior to the January 1977 eruption – a lake depth of about 600 m (2,000 ft). Following the January 2002 eruption, the lava lake was recorded at a low of about 2,600 m (8,500 ft), or 900 m (3,000 ft) below the rim. The level has gradually risen since then. Nyiragongo and nearby Nyamuragira are together responsible for 40% of Africa's historical volcanic eruptions.

Gisenyi, historically rendered as Kisenyi, is the second largest city in Rwanda, located in the Rubavu district in Rwanda's Western Province. Gisenyi is contiguous with Goma as it was formerly also part of now Democratic Republic of the Congo, the city across the border in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.