‘We’re asking for our husbands’ salaries’: The plight of soldiers’ widows in eastern DR Congo

Plastic sheeting serving as tents and mattresses laid on the ground: in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo, the widows of fallen soldiers are struggling to survive in a makeshift camp. They say they fled the capital of North Kivu province, Goma, after it fell to the M23 rebels in January 2025. Left with nothing, they are demanding access to a share of their late husband’s pension.