Tens of thousands of secondary school students sat for state exams in rebel-held eastern Congo this week, a complicated logistical feat requiring rare cooperation between the government and M23 rebels. The Rwanda-backed insurgents seized eastern Congos two largest cities in an offensive earlier this year and are now trying to show they can govern. African leaders along with Washington and Doha are meanwhile trying to broker a peace deal that would put an end to a conflict with roots in the Rwandan genocide more than three decades ago.
The state exams, administered across the sprawling central African country for students hoping to go to university, began on Monday and will continue through mid-June.
