Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres speaks during the 38th African Union (AU) Summit, where leaders will elect a new head of the AU Commission, at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa on February 15, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AFP

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday (February 15, 2025) demanded that the Democratic Republic of Congo’s “territorial integrity” be respected and a regional war avoided, at an African summit the day after Rwandan-backed fighters seized a second DRC provincial capital.

With international pressure mounting on Rwanda to curb the fighting in eastern DR Congo (DRC), the conflict was set to dominate the African Union summit as it opened in Addis Ababa.

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame was seen attending meetings at the gathering, but DR Congo’s president Felix Tshisekedi was absent from the summit as the M23 advanced through his country’s territory.

Having routed the Congolese army to capture the key provincial capital of Goma in North Kivu last month, the Rwandan-backed armed group pushed into neighbouring South Kivu.

It took a vital airport there before marching virtually unchecked into another key city, Bukavu, on Friday (February 14, 2025), security and humanitarian sources said.

“The fighting that is raging in South Kivu – as a result of the continuation of the M23 offensive – threatens to push the entire region over the precipice,” Guterres told leaders in an address to the summit, without mentioning Rwanda.

“Regional escalation must be avoided at all costs. There is no military solution,” he added.

“The dialogue must begin. And the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC must be respected.”

DRC ceasefire call

With the spectre of a regional conflagration rising in eastern DRC, the AU has been criticised for its timid approach and observers have demanded more decisive action.

The European Union on Saturday (February 15, 2025) said that it was “urgently” considering all options following the news from Bukavu.

“The ongoing violation of the DRC’s territorial integrity will not go unanswered,” it warned.

East and southern African leaders on February 8 called for an “immediate and unconditional” ceasefire within five days, but fresh fighting erupted on Tuesday, February 11, 2025.

Outgoing AU commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat told AFP on Friday (February 14, 2025) that there was a “general mobilisation” among African nations to stop the clashes.

Summit host Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, insisted on Saturday (February 15, 2025) that “conflict resolution, diplomacy and peace building must remain at the heart of our efforts.”

A meeting of the AU’s Peace and Security Council dedicated to the conflict ran late into the evening on Friday (February 14, 2025), with neither Mr. Kagame nor Mr. Tshisekedi attending.

A government source told AFP that Mr. Tshisekedi would not attend the summit over the weekend either as he had to “closely follow the situation on the ground in DRC”.

AFP journalists in Bukavu reported sporadic gunfire there on Saturday (February 15, 2025), with the streets deserted as residents sheltered inside after reports of overnight looting.

Across the nearby border in Rwanda, AFP reporters in the town of Rusizi said on Saturday (February 15, 2025) that the situation was calm, but some gunshots could be heard.

Mr. Tshisekedi, speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday (February 14, 2025), urged nations to “blacklist” Rwanda, condemning Kigali’s “expansionist ambitions”.

Rwanda has not admitted backing M23 but has accused extremist Hutu groups in DR Congo of threatening its security.

DR Congo accuses Rwanda of plundering valuable minerals in its eastern provinces.

Neighbouring Burundi has also sent thousands of troops to support DR Congo’s struggling army.

Africa’s challenges

The 55-nation AU is meeting as Africa faces another devastating conflict in Sudan and after U.S. President Donald Trump cut U.S. development aid, hitting the continent hard.

Leaders opened the summit by calling for progress on securing reparations for historic abuses by colonial powers – a growing issue in international talks.

The AU leaders represent around 1.5 billion people in a body that observers have long branded as ineffective, most recently over the DRC violence.

“Mr. Kagame has clearly calculated that his best approach is to push forward, and he does have some support,” International Crisis Group’s Great Lakes project director Richard Moncrieff told AFP.

“Some African leaders have trouble defending Congo because they don’t defend themselves.”

Angolan President Joao Lourenco, involved for several years in futile mediation between Mr. Tshisekedi and Mr. Kagame, took over the rotating presidency of the AU in Saturday (February 15, 2025)‘s session – a ceremonial role that changes hands annually.

A new chairman of the body’s executive commission – the AU’s top job – will also be chosen by vote on Sunday (February 16, 2025).

Three candidates are vying to replace Chad’s Moussa Faki Mahamat, who has reached the two-term limit.

They are Djibouti’s Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Kenyan opposition veteran Raila Odinga and Madagascar’s ex-foreign minister Richard Randriamandrato.

Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) soldiers are seen sitting on top of a truck driving in the streets of Bukavu on February 14, 2025. The intensifying conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has provoked fears of a regional war. Several of the DRC’s nine neighbouring countries, as well as South Africa, already have a military presence on the ground. For the last 30 years, successive conflicts in eastern DRC have turned the heart of the African Great Lakes region into a tinderbox ready to catch fire.
| Photo Credit: AFP

M23 fighters on Friday seized the airport serving Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, just as African leaders gathered for crisis talks on the escalating crisis.

Violence in the restive region has sparked fears of a wider conflict, as a number of neighbouring countries already have a military presence on the ground.

The capture of the airport, some 30 km from Bukavu, was the last military obstacle in the way of the M23 group, and prompted fears of an imminent push on the city.

Congolese troops, who according to security sources put up little resistance, were seen heading back to Bukavu in military trucks and on motorbikes laden with mattresses and other belongings.

As other soldiers unloaded their personal effects in the city, which is home to about one million people, local authorities sent staff home and shops shut, an AFP journalist on the scene said.

Bukavu previously fell to soldiers who deserted the Congolese army in 2004 and the capture of the city would effectively give the M23 total control of the vast Lake Kivu area.

Ceasefire

Heads of state were due to meet for talks on the crisis in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Friday before this weekend’s annual African Union summit.

A temporary lull in the fighting failed to hold earlier this week but outgoing AU chair Moussa Faki Mahamat told AFP it should stop completely.

“The ceasefire must be observed,” he said. “Military campaigns are not going to solve these problems. There is a general mobilisation of Africa today on this issue.”

One notable absentee from the talks is Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, scuppering any potential face-to-face meeting with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame.

Tshisekedi was instead in Germany for the Munich Security Conference, his office said late on Thursday. Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka was taking his place on Friday, a statement read.

The latest fighting in eastern DRC has raged for the last three years but the recent upsurge in violence has prompted multiple international calls for de-escalation.

Fears that the conflict could descend into a regional war are increasing with the M23 backed by Rwandan troops, while Uganda, Burundi, and South Africa all have boots on the ground.

The government in Kinshasa has repeatedly called for international sanctions against Kigali but so far to no avail.

Nearly 3,000 people have been killed in the latest violence, according to the United Nations.

In Goma, which the M23 seized in late January and where it began installing its own administration and establishing its own police force, concerns mounted about the worsening humanitarian situation.

Access to water is still cut off in some of the city, with locals forced to collect supplies from Lake Kivu, where bodies from fighting in the city have been recovered.

The UN humanitarian agency OCHA this week warned of a cholera outbreak, while the UNHCR refugee agency has said lack of access to the displaced was hampering relief efforts.

“We urge all parties to stop attacks on civilian infrastructure and guarantee unhindered humanitarian access,” UNHCR spokeswoman Eujin Byun said.

Tensions

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, fleeing their villages as the fighting advanced towards Goma, forcing them into overcrowded and unsanitary camps on the edge of the city.

The M23 have since ordered them all to leave, angering aid agencies. Burundi briefly shut its borders to fleeing Congolese on Thursday afternoon, sources said.

Dozens of mpox patients being treated in hospital isolation units in Goma have also fled for their lives, the World Health Organization in Geneva said on Friday.

Eastern DRC has been riven by conflict for the last three decades.

Kinshasa accuses Kigali of wanting to steal the region’s abundant natural resources, including rare earth minerals used in electronic batteries and other devices such as mobile telephones, as well as gold.

Rwanda denies the claim and maintains its national security is under threat from armed groups, in particular the FDLR, which was created by former Hutu leaders in the 1994 genocide against Tutsis.

Both countries have recalled their ambassadors from each other’s capitals while the DRC has shut its airspace to Rwandan aircraft.