The armed group M23 and Rwandan soldiers entered the centre of Goma on Sunday night after weeks of advancing on the main city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu province. The advance risks sparking a broader war between Rwanda and DRC and has intensified a humanitarian crisis in the province.
What is M23?
M23, or the March 23 Movement, is one of more than 100 armed groups fighting Congolese forces in the mineral-rich eastern DRC. It is present in North Kivu province in areas bordering Rwanda and Uganda and has more than 8,000 fighters, according to the UN.
It is named after the date in 2009 of the signing of an accord between the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), a Tutsi-led rebel group, and the Congolese government to end a revolt led by the Tutsi people in eastern DRC.
Why is M23 fighting Congolese forces?
M23 was created in 2012 after former CNDP troops rebelled against the Congolese government, accusing it of failing to implement the 2009 agreement by integrating Tutsi fighters into the army, protecting minorities and distributing resources evenly.
It says its objective is to safeguard the interests of the Congolese Tutsi and other minorities, including protecting them against Hutu rebel groups who escaped to the DRC after taking part in the 1994 genocide that targeted Tutsis.
In 2012, the militia made significant territorial gains in eastern DRC, including briefly seizing Goma before withdrawing 10 days later after an agreement brokered by neighbouring nations.
In a resurgence starting in 2022, the group mounted an offensive in North Kivu against DRC’s armed forces and the UN mission in the country. M23 took control of Rubaya, a key coltan mining town, last year. It makes $800,000 (£644,800) monthly in taxes on production and trade of the mineral, according to the UN.
This month, the rebel group has made further territorial gains, capturing the towns of Katale, Masisi, Minova and Sake, and now the city of Goma.
How is Rwanda involved in the eastern DRC conflict?
DRC, the UN, the US and other countries accuse neighbouring Rwanda of backing M23, which Rwanda denies. In 2022, a group UN experts said in a report that they had “solid evidence” that Rwandan soldiers had been working with M23. Last July, UN experts said in a report that 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan government forces operated with M23 in eastern DRC.
Who’s helping Congolese forces in eastern DRC?
There are about 11,000 peacekeepers in DRC, the majority of them in the country’s east, as part of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or Monusco. The Southern African Development Community Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or SAMIDRC, also has troops in the country.
African leaders and the US have in the past brokered ceasefires.
What’s the humanitarian impact of the conflict?
The violence in eastern DRC has compounded the problems of a country that, with more than 6 million people displaced, already has one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
South Kivu and North Kivu, both provinces in the east of the country, have more than 4.6 million internally displaced people. This year alone, the conflict in eastern DRC has displaced 400,000 people.
Numerous cases of executions, sexual violence and other atrocities have been reported in the course of the recent fighting.
