What is happening in Congo?

| Video Credit:
The Hindu

On January 27, 2025, the rebel group M23 announced they had captured much of the provincial capital of Goma.

Almost immediately, panic set in. Hundreds of thousands of residents scrambled to escape—some fled deeper into Congo, while others crossed into Rwanda.

By January 28, the situation worsened when M23 had taken control of Goma’s airport. Unable to hold their ground, the Congolese army and their allies laid down their weapons. And just two days later, by January 30, Goma was fully in the hands of the rebels.

What is happening in Congo? Why is it happening? Who are the M23 rebels? And what does this mean for the region?

Presentation: Sharmada Venkatasubramanian

Script: Shikha Kumari

Editing: Aniket Singh Chauhan

Videography: Thamodharan B.

Rwanda-backed rebels were quickly expanding their presence in eastern Congo after capturing Goma, the region’s major city, the U.N. said Friday, also expressing concerns over executions it learned were carried out by the rebels following a major escalation of their years-long rebellion.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the World Health Organization and its partners conducted an assessment with Congo’s government between Jan. 26-30 “and report that 700 people have been killed and 2,800 injured” in Goma and the vicinity.

“These numbers are expected to rise as more information becomes available,” he said.

The rebels were now about 60 km from South Kivu’s provincial capital of Buakavu and “seem to be moving quite fast,” U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said at a press briefing on Friday. M23 has captured several towns after seizing neighboring Goma, a humanitarian hub critical for many of the 6 million people displaced by the conflict.

The central African nation’s military has been weakened after it lost hundreds of personnel and foreign mercenaries surrendered to the rebels after the fall of Goma.

Goma’s capture has brought humanitarian operations to “a standstill, cutting off a vital lifeline for aid delivery across eastern (Congo),” said Rose Tchwenko, country director for Mercy Corps aid group in Congo. “The escalation of violence toward Bukavu raises fears of even greater displacement, while the breakdown of humanitarian access is leaving entire communities stranded without support.”

The Southern African regional bloc, of which Congo is a member, resolved Friday to maintain its peacekeeping force deployed in eastern Congo in 2023. The group’s chairman, Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa, called for “bold” and “decisive steps” to boost the force’s capacity. At their meeting in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, the 16-nation bloc also pledged to work towards a ceasefire.

At the United Nations, France circulated a draft Security Council resolution to all 15 members Friday urging a halt to the current offensive in eastern Congo, the withdrawal of “foreign elements,” and a resumption of talks to achieve a cessation of hostilities, France’s U.N. Ambassador Nicolas De Riviere said. He expressed hope it can be adopted soon.

The M23 group is the most potent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits critical to much of the world’s technology. They are backed by around 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, far more than in 2012 when they first captured Goma for days in a conflict driven by ethnic grievances.

Observers say that unlike the rebels’ first takeover in Congo, their withdrawal could be more difficult now.

The rebels have been emboldened by Rwanda, which feels Congo is ignoring its interests in the region and failed to meet demands of previous peace agreements, according to Murithi Mutiga, program director for Africa at the Crisis Group think tank. “Ultimately, this is a failure of African mediation (because) the warning signs were always there,” said Mutiga.

U.N. human rights office spokesman Jeremy Laurence spoke at a briefing on Friday about the worsening human rights crisis in the aftermath of the rebellion, including bomb strikes on at least two internally displaced persons camps that killed an unspecified number of people.

“We have also documented summary executions of at least 12 people by M23″ from Jan. 26-28, Laurence said, adding that the group has also occupied schools and hospitals in the province and are subjecting civilians to forced conscription and forced labor.

Congolese forces have also been accused of sexual violence as fighting rages on in the region, Laurence said.

“We are verifying reports that 52 women were raped by Congolese troops in South Kivu, including alleged reports of gang rape,” he said.

An attack by the rebels in Kalehe territory, about 140 kilometers (about 85 miles) from the South Kivu provincial capital, on Thursday was repelled by security forces, said Lt. Gen. Pacifique Masunzu, who commands a key military defense zone in South Kivu.

Congolese military bases in Bukavu were being emptied on Thursday to reinforce those along the way to the provincial capital, residents have told The Associated Press.

Dujarric, the U.N. spokesman, said the United Nations has about 1,200 international and national staff and dependents in Bukavu. “We’re moving some people out of there as a precaution,” he said.

Hundreds of young people on Friday registered as volunteers to join military training in the provincial capital, according to Gabriel Kasanji, a local administrative officer. This follows Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi’s call on Thursday for a mass military mobilization.

As he took office on Friday as the new governor of North Kivu, which includes Goma, Maj. Gen. Somo Kakule Evariste vowed to “move as soon as possible” to Goma to restore government control.

“This is not the time for speeches,” the general said. “The flame of resistance will never be extinguished.”

In Goma, U.N. peacekeeping chief Lacroix said “the situation remains tense and volatile, with occasional shooting continuing within the city.”

Overall, calm is gradually being restored and water and electricity have been restored in much of Goma, but the airport remains closed and the runway unusable, he said.

The U.N. peacekeeping force in the city, known as MONUSCO, continues to grapple with unexploded ordnance that is “a very serious obstacle to freedom of movement,” Lacroix said.

“We are going to struggle until we restore democracy,” said Corneille Nangaa, one of the political leaders of M23. “From a failed state to a modern state.”

Congolese Major-General Somo Kakule Evariste walks as he arrives to assume office as the new military governor of the conflict-hit North Kivu province amid tensions following clashes in Goma between M23 rebels and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), in Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo January 31, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The majority of Indian nationals living in violence-hit Goma in Congo have moved to safer places, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said on Friday (Janaury 31, 2025).

The M23 rebel group, backed by Rwandan soldiers, has taken complete control of all key locations in Goma, including the airport, and the Congolese armed forces have given up showing white flags, according to defence sources.

Also Read | Congo’s leader calls for massive military mobilization as Rwanda-backed rebels expand their control

Calling for a peaceful resolution of the conflict, Mr. Jaiswal said: “We are closely following the developments in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). We remain concerned at the deteriorating security situation.”

“Our Embassy in Kinshasa has issued advisories for Indians living in the Goma area where the conflict has taken place,” Mr. Jaiswal said. “There are about 1,000 Indian nationals in Goma. Most of them have moved to safer places since the outbreak of the conflict. The Embassy remains in regular touch with the community for their welfare and safety.”

‘Firing has stopped’

According to defence sources, firing has stopped in Goma, and all Indian troops – over 1,200 – deployed under the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) are absolutely safe. “Situation in the area is relatively calm. There is no effect on unit deployment. UN mandate is being fulfilled as required.,” one official added.

On the Indian troops, Mr. Jaiswal said they were in regular touch with the UN on the evolving situation in DRC.

Indian troops are deployed at two locations – Goma and Sake.

Also Read | Congo’s forces try to slow Rwanda-backed rebels in the east as protests break out in the capital

The mission MONUSCO headquartered at Kinshasa was established in 2010 replacing the earlier MONUC. As of October 2024, there were 13,971 personnel, with Bangladesh being the highest troop contributing nation with over 1,700 troops.

The M23 rebel group swept through several towns beyond Goma, a city of two million, in the last few days, and the intense fighting has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee.