New conflict escalating in Africa: What is happening on border between DR Congo and Rwanda

Contents

• What is happening in eastern DR Congo and Rwanda's role
• Who are the M23 rebels and a brief history of the conflict
• How the world is reacting to the new escalation

What is happening in eastern DR Congo and Rwanda's role

Over the weekend, rebels from the M23 group, supported by the Rwandan army, invaded the outskirts of Goma, triggering mass panic and a population exodus. Intense fighting has resumed in recent weeks around the administrative center of North Kivu Province, home to approximately one million people. The March 23 Movement (M23) launched an offensive following the failure of mediation efforts led by Angola.

Photo: the city of Goma is located on the eastern border with Rwanda (SkyNews map)

Today, the rebels entered the central part of the city. According to Reuters, it is unclear whether they maintain control over the entire city. Local residents and officials report that the DRC government army and UN peacekeepers are still stationed at the airport.

"There is confusion in the city. Here near the airport, we see soldiers. I have not seen the M23 yet. There are also some cases of looting of stores," said one eyewitness.

Disorganized gunfire can be heard around the airport, in central Goma, and closer to the border with Rwanda. Unverified videos on social media show locals looting a customs warehouse, while columns of well-armed M23 militants are reportedly advancing through the northern suburbs. There appears to be no command structure left in Goma except for police and soldiers.

Earlier in January, the rebels seized control of Minova, a key town on one of Goma’s main supply routes, and Sake, which was the main defensive position of the DRC army. On Friday, they shot the military governor of North Kivu, and on Saturday, they gave government forces in Goma 48 hours to surrender.

#DRCongo : apocalyptic scenes in #Goma as hundreds of thousands of people are forced to flee, desperate to escape from the advancing #M23 and Rwandan forces.

Many of the people have been on the run for over 30 years at this point. pic.twitter.com/rYX1jhGXjZ

— Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) January 26, 2025

At yesterday's UN Security Council meeting, the head of the UN peacekeeping mission, Bintou Keita, stated that the militants are advancing while civilians are constantly being displaced and used as human shields. "Roads are blocked and the airport can no longer be used for evacuation or humanitarian efforts. M23 has declared the airspace over Goma closed. In other words, we are trapped," she noted.

Rwanda's ambassador to the UN claimed that the current escalation could have been prevented if the DRC government had "demonstrated genuine commitment to peace." He urged a return to diplomatic processes involving other African nations.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the M23 offensive "supported by Rwanda's defense forces" and demanded that the rebels immediately cease hostilities and withdraw their troops.

Photo: armed individuals in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province (Getty Images)

By 3:00 AM today, over a hundred Congolese soldiers had surrendered their weapons to Uruguayan peacekeeping forces. In the morning, mission staff and their families were evacuated to Rwanda, where 10 buses were waiting for them.

M23 leader Corneille Nangaa announced the capture of Goma just minutes before the ultimatum expired. The government has not yet confirmed the loss of the city. The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting later today. Reports also indicate that 13 peacekeepers from South Africa and Uruguay were killed in clashes with the rebels.

Right now, mutual shelling is ongoing between the DRC and Rwanda's forces along the shared border near Goma.

Who are the M23 rebels and a brief history of the conflict

The eastern border regions of the DRC remain a hotspot of tension after two consecutive regional wars, which were a result of the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi people in Rwanda.

The March 23 Movement (M23) is one of approximately a hundred armed groups fighting for control of North Kivu. It is mainly composed of Tutsi representatives who claim to act in defense of this ethnic group.

The movement first formed near the Rwanda border in 2012, with its core consisting of around 300 Tutsi soldiers who had deserted the DRC government army. The rebels explained their fight by citing the Congolese government's failure to implement the March 23, 2009, agreement and its persecution of Kinyarwanda speakers — Rwanda's official language.

M23 leaders have claimed they aim to protect Congolese Tutsi from Hutu armed groups, particularly those responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and who later fled into neighboring countries. However, there is also a belief that M23 is a proxy created by neighboring countries to seize resource-rich territory. According to a 2012 UN report, Rwanda and Uganda supplied the rebels and even sent their own armies to assist them in capturing cities.

Photo: Rwandan President Paul Kagame is of Tutsi origin and, despite obvious evidence, denies supporting the M23 rebels (wikimedia.org)

In the fall of 2012, the M23 movement captured Goma for 10 days but suffered a series of defeats from the government army, peacekeepers, and the UN's Intervention Brigade, consisting of soldiers from Tanzania, Malawi, and South Africa. Around 1,500 rebels surrendered to Ugandan authorities within a year, and the group remained largely inactive for the next 8 years.

In June 2021, DRC President Félix Tshisekedi granted a Rwandan company the right to mine gold in his country, which angered Uganda’s government. Ugandan soldiers, with Tshisekedi's consent, entered North Kivu under the pretext of pursuing Islamist militants from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). They were also permitted to provide security along roads in the eastern part of the country, which upset Rwandan President Paul Kagame, a Tutsi himself.

This period marked the resurgence of M23. In November 2021, the rebels seized two settlements in North Kivu, and by March 2022, they controlled much of the Rutshuru region on the border with Uganda and Rwanda. The crisis is considered to be driven by competition between these countries for control over resources. The DRC is home to some of the world's largest reserves of cobalt, germanium, tantalum, as well as significant deposits of coal, iron, copper, zinc, lithium, gold, diamonds, and oil.

In February 2022, Kagame delivered an angry 50-minute speech, highlighting the threat to national security. He pointed to potential links between Islamists and remnants of Rwandan Hutu war criminals and hinted at deploying Rwandan forces without Tshisekedi's approval.

Kagame denied allegations that Rwanda armed the M23 group. The rebels themselves claimed they had found weapons in mines, left behind during their retreat in 2013. The Rwandan leader emphasized that all M23 members were Congolese citizens and that the root cause of the rebellion lay in internal issues within the DRC.

Relations between the two countries were meant to de-escalate after a summit in Angola in July 2022. According to a statement from the Congolese president’s office, a roadmap was agreed upon, which included an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of rebels from DRC positions. However, M23 refused to adhere to the roadmap.

The current escalation appears to be a continuation of the struggle for resources. According to UN experts, Rwanda sent up to 4,000 soldiers and provided significant firepower, including rockets and snipers, to support the rebels. Official Kigali blamed Kinshasa for provoking the fighting.

How the world is reacting to the new escalation

In connection with the rebel offensive, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DRC announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Rwanda. In response, Rwanda evacuated its diplomatic corps from Kinshasa but continues to deny supporting the M23 group, despite clear evidence. However, Rwanda had previously acknowledged the deployment of troops and missile systems in the eastern part of the neighboring country "for its own security."

According to the UN Refugee Agency, since the beginning of 2025, around 400,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in North and South Kivu. This has led to reports of strikes on displacement camps. Specifically, last week, five makeshift shelters were destroyed, and a camp near Goma was heavily damaged.

Photo: Hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled their homes due to the rebels' offensive (Getty Images)

The UN Security Council called for an immediate halt to the offensive. In a detailed statement, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo were urged to return to negotiations for the sake of achieving peace and resolving issues related to the presence of Rwandan troops in eastern DRC and Congolese support for rebel forces in Rwanda.

The Security Council statement condemned the "ongoing flagrant disregard for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC, including the unauthorized presence in the Eastern DRC of external forces." Although the statement does not specify the foreign forces, it demands that they "immediately withdraw."

In the first reaction to the crisis under the new Donald Trump administration, the US Ambassador to the UN, Dorothy Shea, stated that the United States would consider all available tools to hold accountable those who support the armed conflict.

"We condemn in the strongest terms Rwanda's and M-23 hostilities on Goma and attacks on Sake. Rwanda's use of advanced weaponry and systems, including GPS jamming, had endangered both UN peacekeepers and those fleeing violence," she added.

The Deputy Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the UN, James Kariuki, stated that attacks on peacekeepers could be classified as war crimes, and in the current situation, there cannot be a military solution. According to him, Foreign Minister David Lamy has urged the Rwandan president to de-escalate urgently and return to the negotiating table.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot expressed solidarity with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and condemned the actions of Rwanda. "Fighting must stop and dialogue resume," he said today upon arriving at the EU Council meeting in Brussels.

Sources: materials from Reuters, Associated Press, CNN, Sky News, and The Guardian.