They were looking for new ways to kill, ways to send fresh terror across North Kivu. It was early afternoon when the M23 militia raided the Congolese town of Rubaya. In a marketplace, gunmen found a giant wooden pestle and mortar for crushing grain. They began rounding up children, wedging them tight in the mortar. Isabel, 32, watched the rebels stove in their skulls. The mortar turned red, overflowing with blood. Six children, said Isabel, were pummelled to death on 4 April 2024. “It was terrible.” She fled with two friends. Among the rainforests of the east of the Democratic