Residents are progressively fleeing villages around Biakato to Biakato-Centre, considered safer, amid armed-group fear.

WHY THIS MATTERS · This matters because M23's seizure of eastern Congo's mining heartland puts the world's dominant supply of cobalt and coltan—the metals inside every EV battery and phone—under armed-group control, while over seven million displaced people face a deepening humanitarian catastrophe.

Part of the monitored dynamic DRC Great Lakes Conflict · VUCA INDEX 64/100