People along the road in Kibumba, north of Goma, fleeing fighting between Congolese forces and M23 rebels in North Kivu, May 24, 2022 (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, File)
Rebels from the M23 group, backed by neighboring Rwanda, are attacking the city of Goma in the east of the country, with fighting at risk of spreading across the region
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa that has been embroiled in internal conflict and war crimes for decades, rebel militias of the March 23 Movement (M23) have launched a series of attacks in the east in recent weeks North Kivu Province, which lies on the border with Rwanda, and Goma, the largest city in the region.
Last month's violence has forced at least 135,000 people to leave their homes and seek refuge in refugee camps on the outskirts of Goma, where they live in extremely precarious humanitarian and security conditions: more than a million internally displaced since the beginning of the year They were “overcrowded in and around Goma and in need of shelter, food, sanitation and health care,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International's director for East and Southern Africa.
The M23 guerrillas' attacks have intensified so much that many analysts fear a new war could break out and the group is preparing to lay siege to Goma, a major city with more than 700,000 residents. The front line between the rebels and the army now stretches across the last government-controlled road to Goma: the M23 rebels are effectively surrounding the city.
The eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo is a complicated and unstable place. Various armed groups are active in this area, such as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which is close to the Islamic State (ISIS). But the intensifying fighting in recent weeks is due to the M23 rebels, who, according to the Congolese government and several UN experts, are supported by neighboring Rwanda, which is reportedly waging a proxy war against the Democratic Republic of Congo, an indirect war, which was carried out using another local group, such as the M23 rebels.
The ongoing conflict has a lot to do with ethnic hatred. The dominant groups in the Great Lakes region, which includes Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Kenya, are primarily two: Hutu and Tutsi. The Rwandan genocide in 1994 marked the climax of the clash between these two ethnic groups: the Hutus, who were more numerous, massacred hundreds of thousands of Tutsis, who, although fewer in number, were also, for various reasons, determined by the decisions of the old colonial masters who occupied the majority of positions of power.
– Also read: The day the Rwandan genocide began
After the genocide, the Tutsis returned to power in Rwanda and forced many Hutus to emigrate en masse to the Congo. Since then, Rwanda has taken a particular interest in the situation in Congo. It alleges that the Democratic Republic of Congo protected and cooperated with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a militia formed by Hutus who fled after the genocide and whose first leaders were army officers responsible for the genocide were responsible for the Tutsi minority in Rwanda.
Congo, in turn, accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels, who are predominantly ethnic Tutsis and portray themselves as protectors of the Congolese Tutsis.
Rwanda has long denied its involvement in Congo, but last December the United Nations presented evidence that M23 fighters had been trained in Rwanda, as well as footage and aerial photographs of direct interventions and reinforcements by Rwandan troops. Rwandan army on Congolese territory.
Today's M23 is the direct heir to the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), a Tutsi paramilitary formation that has been active in the eastern provinces of Congo since 2006. In 2009, after the capture of Laurent Nkunda, then leader of the CNDP, an agreement was reached that included the withdrawal of troops from North Kivu, the integration of fighters into the army and the development of the CNDP into a traditional political party . The peace treaty in question was signed on March 23, 2009 and it is precisely March 23 that the rebel group M23 refers to to underline its failure.
After an initial phase of fighting in 2009, in which M23 guerrillas briefly took control of Goma, the group became active again at the end of 2021.
Today, in addition to Congo's poorly equipped regular army, Goma is defended by armed groups united under the name Wazalendo, which means “patriots” in the Swahili language. But private European military companies, for example those made up of former members of the French Foreign Legion, are also involved in the training and technical support of the Congo Army. Then there is Burundi, which borders both Congo and Rwanda and has also sent more than a thousand soldiers to fight alongside the Congolese army.
Since the beginning of 2000, around 16,000 United Nations peacekeepers have been deployed in Congo, part of the mission now called MONUSCO, which is being met with increasing distrust and intolerance in the country. In recent weeks, there have been protests in Kinshasa, Congo's capital, and several other cities against the mission, which has been accused of failing to protect civilians from the many militias active in the region. Several analysts and commentators also consider MONUSCO to be very ineffective, despite it being one of the largest peacekeeping missions in the world. Last December, at the request of the Congolese government, the United Nations Security Council voted for the gradual withdrawal of the mission, which will thus end a year earlier than expected: from May, the United Nations forces will only be present in the northern provinces, with a contingent , which can only expect 2,350 units from July 1st.
Finally, in December 2023, the Southern African Development Community set up a military mission to help Congo restore peace and security in the eastern part: It consists of 2,900 soldiers from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi.
Due to the presence of many different forces on the ground, there is a risk that the current crisis in eastern Congo will develop into a regional war.
“The fighting is obviously intensifying,” said Pierre Boisselet, a conflict researcher at a local think tank. The report by the United Nations expert group on the Congo published at the end of 2023 also states that the situation is alarming. Xia Huang, special envoy for the Great Lakes region, noted the danger of a direct clash between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, saying: “The military buildup in both countries, the lack of direct high-level dialogue and the persistent hate speech are all worrisome Signs we cannot ignore.”
However, the two most important countries on the ground, Congo and Rwanda, refuse to bring an end to the conflict, despite mediation primarily by the United Nations and the United States.
Congo has a population of over 100 million and is an extremely poor country with very little access to basic services, serious infrastructure deficiencies and very high inflation. The conflict and bombings make it very difficult to provide aid to civilians and displaced people. The roads are unsafe and the most remote areas are inaccessible. Over the last thirty years, over six million people have been killed in attacks by armed groups and in local violence. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the countries with the most internally displaced people in the world: from March 2022 to today, almost seven million people have had to leave their homes.
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