The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has not known peace, stability and sanity, sustainable economic and socio-political development for long periods of time. There is always a fertile and breeding ground for conflict between its ethnic groups.
Like in some African countries experiencing post-colonial insurgency, the environment in the DRC has remained dynamic, hostile, fluid and complex. Since the attainment of independence from Belgium in 1960 and after successive governments in power, the situation has remained at a stage where Rob Mills says “Kinshasa pretends to govern and the world pretends to help.
The recent escalation of the conflict calls for thorough understanding of the background of the conflict some decades ago.
Since 1996, conflict in eastern DRC has led to approximately six million deaths. The First Congo War (1996–1997) began in the wake of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, during which ethnic Hutu extremists killed an estimated one million minority ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda (DRC’s neighbour to the east). During and following the genocide, nearly two million Hutu refugees crossed the Congolese border, mostly settling in refugee camps in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. A small subset of those Rwandans who entered DRC were Hutu extremists who began organizing militias within the Congo. Pressure intensified as Tutsi militias organized against the Hutu groups and as foreign powers began taking sides.
Following the Rwandan Patriotic Front’s (RPF) victory against the genocidal Rwandan government, the new Tutsi-led government began its involvement in DRC (then known as The Republic of Zaire). Rwandan troops, under the leadership of President Paul Kagame, and Congo-based Tutsi militias with Rwandan backing launched an invasion of Zaire, which was ruled at the time by Dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. Kigali justified both efforts by arguing that Hutu groups in eastern DRC were still a threat to their Tutsi population and that the Mobutu regime was harbouring Hutu extremists who had fled across the border. Rwanda waged the First Congo War against Zaire with the help of other African states (most significantly Uganda, but also Angola and Burundi), who had their own security concerns related to Mobutu’s support of rebel groups across the continent. The Rwandan coalition’s invasion was coordinated with the help of Zaire’s then-opposition leader, Laurent Kabila.
Thousands died; some casualties were former Hutu militants and members of armed groups, but many were refugees and non-combatant Congolese in North and South Kivu, in eastern DRC. Methods of warfare were brutal, especially those employed by Rwandan soldiers and Tutsi groups. When Mobutu fled Kinshasa, the Kabila-Kagame coalition won the First Congo War in 1997. Kabila was installed as president of Zaire and changed the country’s name back to The Democratic Republic of Congo.
In 1998, the Second Congo War broke out following the deterioration of relations between Kigali and Kinshasa. To diminish the impression that Rwanda held undue influence over the Congolese government, Kabila denied claims that Rwanda had been responsible for winning the war and placing him in power. Kabila also began removing ethnic Tutsis from his government and took measures to weaken Rwanda’s military presence in eastern DRC. By the late 1990s, it was becoming clear to the world that targeted campaigns against Hutu populations during the First Congo War (led mainly by Kagame’s army) amounted to war crimes. This growing international consensus reflected poorly on the fledgling Kabila regime.
In a reversal of alliances, Kabila ordered all foreign troops out of the Congo and allowed Hutu armed groups to organize at the border once again. Rwanda responded by invading in 1998. Kigali’s stated aim was to create a zone in the DRC-Rwanda borderlands controlled by its own troops to create more distance from Hutu groups in eastern DRC. Congolese forces supported by Angola (which also reversed alliances following the ascent of Laurent Kabila), Namibia, and Zimbabwe fought the Rwandan, Ugandan, and Burundi militaries, as well as various rebel groups supported by Kigali and Kampala. Amidst the chaos of war, Laurent Kabila was assassinated in a 2001 coup attempt planned by his aides and guards. Those involved were imprisoned, and Kabila’s son, Joseph Kabila, took power. The Second Congo War was formally brought to a close under the junior Kabila in 2002.
From the chaotic years of mass murder and displacement, there was one group which emerged and today the group is an influential non-state actor that is shaping the conflict at the moment and that group is known as the M23.
Operating in North Kivu province, the group takes its name from the March 23 Agreement of 2009 when the DRC government, under President Joseph Kabila — son of Laurent-Désiré Kabila — signed a ceasefire treaty with the Tutsi-majority National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), one of the numerous groups of fighters active since the Second Congo War. In the agreement, the CNDP was meant to become a political party and its fighters were to integrate into the Congolese military, FARDC. However, on April 4, 2012, 300 CNDP troops revolted, complaining of poor treatment in the army. They formed the M23, claiming to be fighting for Tutsis’ rights in the DRC. In late 2012, M23 launched an offensive, seizing Goma and several other towns.
A special UN force along with FARDC pushed the rebels back into the eastern hills on the border with Rwanda in 2013. In 2022, M23 rebels resurfaced after five years of inactivity and gained control of large parts of North Kivu province by July 2023. Kinshasa, along with multiple foreign governments, has repeatedly accused Kigali of funding and supporting M23’s resurgence. In return, Kigali accuses Kinshasa of supporting Hutu extremist militias such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). Rwanda maintains a significant military presence in eastern DRC and along the countries’ shared border.
The ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has had a devastating impact, leading to widespread displacement, mass casualties, severe human rights abuses, economic devastation, and a major humanitarian crisis, with millions of people internally displaced and lacking access to basic necessities due to widespread violence and instability across the country, particularly in the eastern regions and this is considered one of the most complex and protracted humanitarian crises globally.
In addition, the conflict and its aftermath remain a major cause of concern, as they pose a multi-dimensional challenge to economic and human development in the country and in the region.
This calls for high-level attention at regional and global levels to support the DRC government in the search for a solution to conflicts and in its efforts to put the country back on a path of sustainable development. Rwanda and the DRC are at loggerheads with accusations and counter-accusations thrown back and forth like a hot political potato.
Congo's foreign minister, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, told the UN Security Council that Rwanda was committing "a frontal aggression, a declaration of war which no longer hides itself behind diplomatic maneuvers." Rwanda's ambassador to the UN, Ernest Rwamucyo, did not confirm or deny Congo's claims. He blamed Congo's government, saying the crisis could have been averted if it had "demonstrated a genuine commitment to peace."
Confrontations like this are not only bad for the stability of the two countries but the region