Though the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group seized parts of Walikale territory only a few months ago, residents of this corner of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo say their lives have been transformed.

“They are here, and we have no choice but to live with them,” said a local resident. “They sow terror so that they will be listened to."

Walikale is one of several territories the M23 has been fighting over during a nearly four-year insurgency that has displaced millions of people, echoing the devastating wars that blighted DRC in the late 1990s and early 2000s.