The images merge, the temporalities jostle, the dead of yesterday merge with those of today while tens of thousands of civilians are once again trapped. On November 20, 2012, the M23 rebellion entered Goma, the regional capital of North Kivu, in eastern DR-Congo (DRC), after weeks of fighting in one of the most affected regions in the world. through war and mass violence. The M23 withdrew from the city about ten days later, before being defeated the following year.
The M23 back, ten years later
Ten years later, the armed group clashes with the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) less than twenty kilometers from the city, while other fighting is underway towards the Ugandan border to the east and the Congolese territory of Masisi to the west. The rebels accuse Kinshasa of not having respected agreements on the demobilization and reintegration of their combatants. Since the spring, they have continued to expand their territory from their stronghold, located on the Ugandan border.
They also accuse the Congolese power of having allied with the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), a movement of Rwandan Hutu rebels founded (and partly still composed today) by those responsible for the genocide of Tutsis in 1994. This alliance has been documented by Human Rights Watch (HRW) but it is denied by Kinshasa. On the other hand, the Congolese authorities accuse Rwanda of supporting the M23, as in 2012. An incrimination denied by Kigali, but documented in a confidential UN report, consulted in August by AFP, and by other observers such as HRW on 1is November.
The return, too, of anti-Tutsi hatred
This Sunday’s fighting follows numerous demonstrations in the country against Rwanda, with anti-Tutsi overtones that evoke the time of the genocide. “Protesters started shouting ‘Rwandan, Rwandan’ at me, three of them tore my clothes, stole my phone. It’s really silly to believe that anyone with a pointed nose is a Tutsi from Rwanda. Me, I am Congolese of father and mother “, testified, on November 17 to AFP, a victim. This racist surge is palpable on social networks where the confusion between M23 and Tutsis is maintained in an explosive way.
Kenya at the diplomatic and military maneuver
On the diplomatic side, various initiatives and declarations have followed one another in recent days. Among the most significant, that undertaken by the United States, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom which, in a joint press release on November 18, described the M23 as “illegal armed group” and called for “any external support” to this group “stop”.
Former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, facilitator of the East African Community (EAC) (1) for peace in the DRC, visited eastern DR-Congo on Thursday: he described the situation as “humanitarian disaster”. And on Saturday, he said Rwandan President Paul Kagame has joined calls for the M23 rebels to end the fighting and stand down.
His successor, Kenyan President William Ruto is also due to meet his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa on Monday, November 21. That same day, new peace talks should start in Nairobi, under the aegis of the EAC. If they do not yield results, Kenya could ask its armed forces to intervene to rescue civilians in Goma. About 900 Kenyan soldiers are expected there as part of the joint force that the EAC has decided to mobilize to restore security in this region. A first contingent of a hundred soldiers has already landed in Goma last week.