Members of M23 in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. Credit: Reuter

The mineral-rich laden eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been dogged by conflict for more than 30 years, since the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Various armed groups have battled with the Federal authorities for power and control of the potential fortune in this vast nation.

The unrest and instability has sucked in neighbouring countries to devastating effect – notoriously in the 1990s when two huge conflicts, dubbed Africa’s World Wars, resulted in the deaths of millions of people.

Just recently, Rwanda-backed rebels known as M23 claimed they have captured eastern Congo’s largest city, Goma, as the United Nations described a mass panic among its 2 million people and Congo’s government said the rebel advance was a “declaration of war.”

Some 400,000 people have fled their homes in eastern Congo as the rebels advanced on Goma, according to the U.N. refugee agency. In the last few days, many more have arrived in the city.

M23 is funded and directed by the government of Rwanda, according to the United Nations and the United States, even though Rwanda till date denies any direct involvement with the group.

The conflict has its roots in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, which spilled over the border into Congo, leading to decades of fighting. Like the leaders of Rwanda, M23 is mostly made up of people from the Tutsi ethnic group.

M23 is one of more than 100 militias roaming the mineral-rich areas of eastern Congo. But the group stands out from the rest because of its territorial gains and its control of the area’s lucrative mining industry.

The group’s name refers to its claim that the Congolese government failed to honor an earlier peace agreement, signed on March 23, 2009. The leaders of M23 claim the group is in eastern Congo to protect fellow Tutsis and other speakers of the Kinyarwanda language from persecution by the Congolese authorities.

The United Nations has repeatedly warned against widespread hate speech against Tutsis in eastern Congo and said last year that risks of genocide and atrocity crimes in the region remained high. Eastern Congo also harbors hundreds of suspected perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide who haven’t been brought to justice, it said.

The group was founded in 2012 and quickly captured Goma for the first time, before withdrawing after global leaders pressured Rwanda. It lay dormant throughout most of the 2010s before resuming attacks on the Congolese Army in 2021.

Displaced people leave a camp for the town of Goma. Credit: NY Times

Neighbouring Rwanda has in the past consistently denied that it supported the M23, but ever since 2012 UN experts have accused it of providing weapons, logistical support and even ultimately commanding the rebels.

DR Congo’s government, as well as the US and France, have also identified Rwanda as backing the group. Last year, a UN experts report said that up to 4,000 Rwandan troops were fighting alongside the M23. In a statement on Sunday, Rwanda did not explicitly deny that it backed the M23 but instead said that the fighting near its border was a “serious threat” to its “security and territorial integrity”.

It added that Rwanda was being scapegoated and blamed the recent fighting on the Congolese authorities, saying they had refused to enter into a dialogue with the M23.

Protesters in Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo, burning and tearing up a Rwandan flag. Credit: BBC

A peace process, mediated by Angola and involving Rwanda and DR Congo, did result in a ceasefire deal last year, however that soon fell apart and fighting resumed.

The origin of the current fighting can partly be traced back to the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. About 800,000 people – the vast majority from the Tutsi community – were slaughtered by ethnic Hutu extremists. The genocide ended with the advance of a force of Tutsi-led rebels commanded by Paul Kagame, who is now president.

Fearing reprisals, an estimated one million Hutus then fled across the border to what is now DR Congo. This stoked ethnic tensions as a marginalised Tutsi group in the east – the Banyamulenge – felt increasingly under threat.

A protest against Rwanda in Democratic Republic of Congo. Credit: Reuters

Rwanda’s army twice invaded DR Congo, saying it was going after some of those responsible for the genocide, and worked with members of the Banyamulenge and other armed groups. After 30 years of conflict, one of the Hutu groups, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which includes some of those responsible for the Rwandan genocide, is still active in eastern DR Congo.

Rwanda describes the FDLR as a “genocidal militia” and says its continued existence in the DR Congo’s east threatens its own territory. It accuses the Congolese authorities of working with the FDLR – accusations which DR Congo denies. Rwanda is unlikely to stay out of DR Congo unless it is satisfied that the FDLR is no longer a threat to itself, or to the Tutsi communities in eastern DR Congo.

A UN peacekeeping mission has been in place since 1999. The current force – known as Monusco – is made up of more than 10,000 troops. However, of these, only the Force Intervention Brigade is allowed to carry out offensive operations against armed groups. It was this force that helped defeat the M23 in 2013.

Monusco has been the target of anger from ordinary Congolese who see it as failing to do its job. President Félix Tshisekedi, deeming the mission a failure, had asked it to leave by the end of last year. But the departure was delayed and in December the mission was extended for another year. The Southern African Development Community (Sadc), a regional grouping of 16 countries, has also deployed a military force to eastern DR Congo, but it has been unable to halt the rebels.

A Rwandan soldier inspecting weapons taken from surrendering members of the Congolese Army on Monday after they crossed into Rwanda. Credit: AFP

South Africa said 13 of its soldiers had been killed in clashes with rebels as they were trying to stop the advance on Goma. Three Malawian soldiers have also been killed. The UN said that Uruguay had lost one of its soldiers who was part of the Monusco force.

DR Congo and multiple UN reports have accused Rwanda of using the conflict as a way of looting Congolese minerals, such as gold and coltan, which is used to make batteries for electric vehicles and mobile phones. In recent years, the M23 has seized several lucrative mining areas and a report by UN experts last December said that around 120 tonnes of coltan was being sent by the M23 to Rwanda every four weeks.

Experts strongly believe that Rwanda, a country smaller than Massachusetts with limited natural resources, is seeking to expand its sphere of influence and keep plundering mineral resources in eastern Congo.

According to the United Nations, M23 is planning for “territorial expansion and the long-term occupation and exploitation of conquered territories.”

The M23 says it is a Congolese rebel group defending DR Congo’s Tutsi community. Credit: BBC

In April 2024, the group seized Rubaya, home to one of the world’s largest mines of coltan, a key component in the manufacturing of smartphones. M23 has issued mining permits and formed a “state-like administration” for mining production, trade and transport, according to U.N. experts, with profits of more than $800,000 a month.

The minerals are eventually routed to Rwanda, according to reports documenting the trade from M23-controlled territories to Congo’s neighbour.

In 2012, M23 pulled out of Goma after Rwanda withdrew its support to the group. Western donors later applied diplomatic pressure on Rwanda, cutting much-needed aid. This time around, the same powers have only used words to condemn the offensive.

From the outside looking in, observers say Rwanda might be testing the waters to see what it can get away with its clandestine activities. The response or lack of pushback it gets from the International community will shape how the M23 insurgency is going to unfold going forward.