‘Bullet wounds are common’: crime rife in DRC’s rebel-besieged city of Goma

Demonstrators show their support for the DRC’s army during a protest in Goma but Congolese troops have also been accused of preying on civilians. Photograph: Michel Lunanga/AFP/Getty

In broad daylight on 16 April, three armed and uniformed men held up a city centre mobile phone shop.

Threatening staff, they helped themselves to about £700 worth of goods, before making off on a motorbike, disappearing into the busy streets of Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.