Much of it is exported to Dubai before being made into jewelry sold around the world. Competition for resources and influence in DRC also has sharpened longstanding rivalries between Rwanda and Uganda. U.N. investigators a decade earlier had claimed to have credible evidence of Rwandan involvement. The clash over M23 led to a frost in diplomatic relations that lasted until 2022. Models present dresses . More than 5.5 million people have been displaced 700,000 just this year, according to the United Nations. Congo fashion show hopes to inspire peace, creativity in region But while fighting has eased in recent months, the . There is also the Cooperative for Development of Congo, or CODECO, which has at least four offshoots and has carried out hundreds of attacks since 2018. [The M23] said that they were coming to take back their land, and that if we let the FARDC return they would kill us all. The wife said: They tore my clothes, I was crying and begging them to kill me rather than rape me. They came to my house in the evening on February 20. The EU and others should maintain and expand sanctions against senior M23 commanders, leaders of other armed groups, and senior officials from across the region who have been found responsible for or complicit in recent serious abuses by their forces or those for which they have command responsibility. About 120 militia groups roam eastern Congo. The Banyamulenge people settled there throughout history - before and during colonial rule and during Hutu rule in Rwanda. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/01/world/africa/congo-rwanda.html. Explainer: Whats Behind the Rising Conflict in Eastern DRC? One Congolese official even declared that if Rwanda wants war, it will have war.. For additional details about M23 abuses and the recent violence, please see below. Congolese soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) rest in the forest after the army took control of an Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel camp near the town of Kimbau, North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo on February 18, 2018. Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo | Global Conflict Tracker M23s renewed attacks aim to pressure the Congolese government to answer their demands, said Jason Stearns, head of the Congo Research Group at New York University, in a June briefing with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). But fighting broke out the next day between M23 and the Congolese army in North Kivu's Rutshuru territory. Published Dec. 31, 2021 Updated Jan. 6, 2022. A large part of the gold traded by Uganda and Rwanda is sourced fraudulently from neighboring countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, said a 2018 report published by the U.N. Group of Experts on Congo. The groups attacks on Congos government have surged since late last year, after it accused authorities of failing to observe a 2009 peace deal with the group and discriminating against people who speak the language Kinyarwanda. For them and for some Congolese officials, war is a handy cover for smuggling. There are nearly 18,000 peacekeepers and other U.N. personnel in eastern Congo whose effectiveness is often called into question as attacks continue and civilians flee. Satellite image: January 8, 2023 2023 Planet Labs PBC. Conflict is escalating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, home to more than 100 armed groups, including M23. Human Rights Watch documented killings and rapes by M23 rebels targeting civilians caught up in the fighting between the M23 and Congolese forces as they tried to flee to safety. Congo and Rwanda hold talks to resolve conflict in eastern Congo You are also agreeing to our, More on The Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, estimated 5.7 million internally displaced people. DR Congo conflict: Why Kenyan troops are joining the battle Data OpenStreetMap contributors. The last time this happened, in June of 2021, 5,000 homes were destroyed. Nov. 6, 2022, at 5:56 a.m. Congo and Rwanda Hold Talks to Resolve Conflict in Eastern Congo. Most in eastern Congo are farmers, living in villages scattered across the countryside and growing their own food when its safe enough to do so. More than 120 militia groups are wreaking terror in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which now accuses neighboring Rwanda of backing one particularly violent group. DR Congo: UN envoy calls for strategy to address root causes of conflict The international communitys attention is now focused on whats happening in Ukraine.. Now its resurging. Conflict in Eastern Congo: A Spark Away from a Regional Conflagration She said: I offered them money, they said no. China and DRCs complex, multi-layered economic and military relationship has resulted in limited access to the Congos vital resources and profits for other countries and the Congolese people themselves. The Africa Center report noted there is ample evidence to suggest that Ugandan- and Rwandan-backed rebel factions including M23 control strategic but informal supply chains running from mines in the Kivus into the two countries. It said the groups use the proceeds from trafficked goods to buy weapons, recruit and control artisanal miners, and pay corrupt Congolese customs and border officials as well as soldiers and police. Officials from Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda held talks on Saturday aimed at ending a political stand-off between the two countries caused by widespread conflict near their shared border. Citing past genocides, he urged "that the whole world points a finger toward it and makes sure that it is stopped before the worst comes to the worst.". "The DRC produces more than 70% of the world's cobalt" and "holds 60% of the planet's coltan reserves," the industry website Mining Technology reported in February, speculating that the DRC "could become the Saudi Arabia of the electric vehicle age. When they searched him and found 100,000 Congolese Francs (US$45), they beat him up. It took on a prominent role on the front line of the fighting with the apparent backing of some senior Congolese army officers. Methods of warfare were brutal, especially those employed by Rwandan soldiers and Tutsi groups. We heard around 24 artillery shells fall on Karuba and its surrounding areas.. The eastern DRC has been plagued by fighting by at least 122 rebel groups according to a recent count by the United Nations for more than 25 years. The Second Congo War was formally brought to a close under the junior Kabila in 2002, and while estimates vary greatly, the death toll of the Second Congo War and the associated humanitarian disaster may have reached overthree million people by 2004. Share this via Twitter In June 2012, the then-United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay,describedthe M23s leaders as among the worst perpetrators of human rights abuses in [Congo], or in the world. They included Gen. Bosco Ntaganda, who has since beenconvictedby the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes andcrimes against humanitywhen he led another armed group in Ituri province, and Col. Sultani Makenga, who is now referred to as general and has been leading the current offensive. After the M23 briefly captured Goma, UN-backed government troops forced them back into Rwanda and Uganda in 2013. A Congolese army tank heads towards the front line in eastern Congo in May. M23s leaders include some ethnic Tutsis. The tensions erupted last week after M23 rebels attacked Congolese forces near Goma, the largest city in Congo's mineral-rich east, which borders Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania. The United Nations should impose targeted sanctions on those assisting the M23 and other abusive forces. Regional attempts over the past 10 years to demobilize M23 fighters have failed. More gold. Paul Nantulya, an Africa Center research associate who contributed to its analysis, predicted it would take time to resolve the long-running tensions between Rwanda and the DRC. Sexual violence against women and girls is widespread and not limited to areas of fighting. President Tshisekedi engaged in diplomatic talks with Rwandan representatives in November, resulting in a delicate, and ultimately ineffective, cease-fire. Following the Rwandan Patriotic Fronts (RPF) victory against the genocidal Rwandan government, the new Tutsi government began its involvement in DRC (then known as The Republic of Zaire). A new episode. Share this via WhatsApp In mid-June, President Felix Tshisekedi of Congo suspended bilateral agreements with Rwanda and accused the country of wanting to occupy Congos land to profit from its vast mineral wealth. The fighting has ramped up tensions between the DRC and neighboring Rwanda, some of which linger from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where ethnic Hutus killed roughly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. 2022 AFP/GUERCHOM NDEBO via Getty Images. Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing in Ethiopias Western Tigray Zone, Access to Services for Survivors of Gender-Based Violence in Ethiopias Tigray Region, Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people in close to 100 countries worldwide, spotlighting abuses and bringing perpetrators to justice. The group was pushed back the next year by the Congolese army and special forces of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). She saw a doctor at a health clinic near Goma, but said she still experiences intense pain. A report by a UN panel of experts in 2002 revealed that criminals linked to the security forces of Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and DR Congo had all benefited from exploiting that country's minerals. They were armed and some had sticks, he said. "MONUSCO's departure is planned and initial steps are being taken in several areas. "So far, the ceasefire between the M23 and the FARDC has held up relatively well and has contributed to some security gains, said UN Assistant Secretary-General for AfricaMartha Pobee. The transfer of power from former President Joseph Kabila, who ruled for eighteen years and delayed the elections multiple times, marked the first peaceful transfer of power in the DRCs history. After Congos first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, was assassinated for which Belgium has since admitted moral responsibility the African nation has been ruled by successive governments that have failed to bring peace and prosperity. By Abdi Latif Dahir. Regarding the scheduled departure of the peacekeeping mission MONUSCO, she said it was necessary to "stay the course for an orderly, gradual and responsible transition". Rebels from the M23 armed group have pulled back from some of the areas they occupied in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of a regional ceasefire initiative supposed to halt a conflict that has displaced nearly a million people. 2023 BBC. The fighting has ramped up tensions between the DRC and neighboring Rwanda, some of which linger from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, during which ethnic Hutus killed roughly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. A 32-year-old man from Kitchanga said that on January 20 a mortar shell struck his house, killing his three brothers and injuring his sister: We were in the house preparing to flee when the round struck. People who lived in M23-occupied areas told Human Rights Watch that M23 combatants looted, destroyed, or set fire to property, forced people to work for them without pay, and abducted men for possible forced recruitment. Stearns, of the Congo Research Group, said the joint Ugandan-DRC military operation created "geopolitical ripple effects in the region," with Rwanda essentially complaining that Uganda's intervention "encroaches" on its sphere of interest in eastern Congo. More than 600 people have been killed by armed groups in the past three months, withCODECO, the Zairean militia and the ADF, being the main perpetrators of these atrocities. Speaking for the M23 rebels, Major Willy Ngoma told VOA's Swahili Service that his group did not recognize the pact. A senior UN official warned the Security Council on Monday that the security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has continued to deteriorate over the past three months, despite a lull in fighting between M23 rebels and the national army (FARDC). Ruth Maclean reported from Dakar, Senegal, and Abdi Latif Dahir from Kigali, Rwanda. Belgium,France,and Germany have also urged Rwanda to stop assisting the M23. @Lattif. A small subset of those Rwandans who entered DRC were Hutu extremists who feared retribution or prosecution at home and began organizing militias within the Congo. The resurgence of the M23 rebel group since late 2021 led several Congolese armed groups to form a coalition in opposition. The ongoing conflict in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has cost approximately six million lives since 1996, making it one of the deadliest conflicts in world history. Since 1998, violent conflict and poverty in the DRC have killed over 5 million men, women, and childrenmore than any war since World War II. Kenya has been instrumental in trying to broker a permanent peace deal between DR Congo and the rebels. Access also has value. Explainer: What's Behind the Rising Conflict in Eastern DRC. Now my husband has left for good. UN investigators alsosaidthat Ugandan army commanders had sent troops and weapons to reinforce some M23 operations and assisted the group with recruiting. South Sudanese forces will fight remnants of the Lord Resistance's Army. While the United States does maintain a trade relationship with DRC, it enforces strict reporting requirements on imports from conflict-affected states and bans on importing Conflict Minerals, which are resources such as tin and gold mined for the profit of armed groups in the Congo and neighboring countries. Rwanda has had its own deals with the DRC including flying RwandAir routes and processing gold mined in Congo but the Congolese government suspended all trade agreements in mid-June. Jihadists in Congo are extending their reach in the region The M23, which was formed a decade ago, claims to defend the interests of ethnic Tutsis living in DR Congo against Hutu militias. About DRC Home About DRC Background The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is Africa's third largest country and is home to over 75 million people. M23 rebels resurfaced after a five-year period of inactivity and began escalating attacks against Congolese troops. In 2023, DRC is home to an estimated 5.7 million internally displaced people in urgent need of more than 2 billion dollars in medical and other aid. The country has faced political repression and instability since it achieved independence in 1960. They said they would kill us if we refused., A 35-year-old woman said she was raped while fleeing the M23s arrival in Kitchanga with three of her children. M23 leaders have denied that their forces have committed any crimes. In early August, it also ordered the U.N. to withdraw the mission's spokesperson, Mathias Gillman, saying his "indelicate and inappropriate remarks" exacerbated tensions between the mission and civilians in North Kivu. Now I am pregnant, and I dont know whose baby it is. Around 2 p.m., some FDLR found us hiding. While U.S. companies once owned vast cobalt mines in the Congo, most were sold to Chinese companies during the Barack Obama and Donald Trump administrations. FILE - Displaced people who fled clashes between the Congolese army and M23 rebels try to return to their homes in Kibumba, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 1, 2022. We cannot go into exile again. The M23 armed group includes soldiers who participated in a mutiny from the Congolese national army in 2012. By August 2022, most had returned to their respective strongholds. We signed an agreement with President Tshisekedi and Congo government, Ngoma said, referring to the 2013 pact, and we are ready to talk with the government. And in June 2021, DRCs Tshisekedi and Ugandas Museveni presided over groundbreaking of the first of three roads linking the countries. Many of those responsible then fled to DR Congo after Mr Kagame's forces took over in Rwanda, taking the conflict across the border with them. The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda Blinken also aims to ease smoldering tensions between the DRC and its neighbor Rwanda. Eastern Congo: A Legacy of Intervention The Democratic Republic of Congo has been subjected to centuries of international intervention by European powers, as well as its African neighbors.. Lately, Kenya has been leading efforts to broker peace, gathering leaders from the East African Community a seven-nation regional bloc that includes both Congo and Rwanda to try to resolve the crisis. She joined The Times in 2019 after three and a half years covering West Africa for The Guardian. The groups senior commanders have a well-known history of serious abuses against civilians. The project includes a road connecting Gomas port on Lake Kivu with the border town of Bunagana. More than six decades after he was assassinated Belgium returned the tooth, which was taken on a nine-day tour around the country before being buried. On December 15, United States Secretary of State AntonyBlinken said that Rwandashould use its influence with M23 to encourage them to withdraw and to pull back their forces. At 6 a.m. on October 27, a group of us went to hide in the forest, about 10 women in all, she said. Satellite image comparison between January 17, 2023 (left) and May 13, 2023, shows some of the new internally displaced persons camps built around Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. Kabila was installed as president of Zaire and changed the countrys name back to The Democratic Republic of Congo. As young people continue to flee fighting between Congolese armed forces and . A 30-year-old woman described her encounter with rebel fighters close to Kitchanga, while she and her husband fled the fighting. Conflict in the DRC's volatile eastern region has disrupted schooling for 750,000 young Congolese, according to UNICEF. Rwandas ambassador to the DRC, Vincent Karega, warned in a June interview with the VOAs Central Africa Service that hate speech is fanning the conflict. Residents in Rugari, a locality in Rutshuru territory which the M23 captured in late October, said that the rebels burned down and destroyed between 40 and 60 houses between October and January. Foreign governments currently providing military assistance to Rwanda should recognize that they too may be complicit in rebel atrocities.. Human Rights Watch interviewed six survivors of rape by armed groups, including the FDLR and the Nyatura Abazungu. Human Rights Watch accuses M23 of "summarily" killing at least 29 civilians from mid-June through July 25. The intensity of the escalation has been such that President Flix Tshisekedi issued a call to arms on Thursday. Violence persisted in Mai-Ndombe, Kwilu and Kwango provinces, and has spread to Maluku in Kinshasa province, Ms. Pobee said. Kabila also began removing ethnic Tutsis from his government, and took measures to weaken Rwandan military hegemony in eastern DRC.