M23 Rebels Detain Civilians in Containers, Journalists Threatened

0:00It's March 24th. Global news today starts now, AI-powered and worldwide. I'm Corey with the story. A rebel group in eastern Congo is holding civilians, including two journalists, in metal shipping containers with no light or fresh air. Advocacy organization reporters without borders, detailed disengoma, a city under the control of the Rwanda-backed M2-3 rebels. Witness accounts, along with satellite images and photos from this year, show the containers set up at the local legislative compound. Up to 80 people at a time were packed inside, getting just one brief break a day, little food, and facing regular beatings. Daytime heat was suffocating, nights turned freezing, and some detainees died after weeks in there. Journalists in eastern Congo already faced plenty of threats, but M2-3's takeover of Goma last year has made things even tougher. The group now clamps down on media, dictating how their operations get described. This fits into decades of fighting in the mineral rich region, where government troops

1:01battle over 100 armed groups. M2-3 made huge gains early last year, grabbing key cities despite a truce from the United States and Qatar. The result is a massive humanitarian disaster, with 7 million people forced from their homes, and no word yet from M2-3 on these reports.