DRC: Kinshasa powerless to stem the crisis in the East

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Less than a week after the announcement of a ceasefire, fighting resumed on Thursday 1^er December, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). They oppose elements of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) to the rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23), a few tens of kilometers north of Goma, the capital of North Kivu. Not far from there, in the vicinity of Bambo, this same group reportedly clashed with elements of a local Mai Mai self-defense militia. According to the FARDC staff and the United Nations mission in the DRC, Monusco, dozens of civilians were allegedly “cowardly murdered”.

Read also: In the DRC, the rebel advance towards Goma suspended

This new violence comes as leaders of armed rebel groups active in eastern DRC, representatives of civil society or the government, some 200 people, have been meeting since Monday, November 28 in Nairobi. Objective of this third round of inter-Congolese dialogue relocated to the Kenyan capital: “Find lasting solutions to the security situation [dans la partie orientale de la RDC] », in the words of the Community of East African States. But how can we claim to achieve this objective, when the most active armed group in recent months, the March 23 Movement, is excluded from the discussions?

North Kivu is under the influence of an offensive launched a year ago by this armed group that Kinshasa and its regional allies thought they had put down almost ten years ago, but whose resurgence reflects the impotence of the Congolese State to curb this crisis.

Several strategic towns located on the national road number 2 fell into rebel hands, as well as several border posts with Uganda. Admittedly, the M23 was stopped about ten kilometers north of Goma. But the group continues to advance under the cover of the forests carpeting the volcanic slopes of Masisi, threatening to cut the supply routes of the regional capital.

Rwandan support for M23

At least 350,000 people have been thrown onto the roads since the start of 2022, adding to the approximately 4.9 million Congolese already internally displaced for years due to recurrent violence in the North Kivu, but also in the neighboring provinces of South Kivu and Ituri, according to United Nations figures.

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