The situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has deteriorated dramatically in recent months–as 6 million have died and more than 6.5 million have been displaced–while the world stands idly by and witnesses yet another genocide in which extreme violence, starvation, and displacement receive little media attention. More than 25 million Congolese receive no support from the rest of the world, as rebels from the violent organization Movement of March 23–more commonly known as “M23”–and more than 100 other groups wreak havoc.
The M23 is essentially made up of former Congolese army soldiers who rebelled because they accuse the government of marginalizing their Tutsi ethnic minority, as most of them come from Rwandophone Congolese communities in the north. The M23 rebels aim to take back the land they feel belongs to them.
On one side is the M23, a well-organized but brutal rebel force which the U.S. and U.N. claim is sponsored by Rwanda, Congo’s eastern neighbor that is one-hundredth the size of Congo. (Rwanda rejects the relationship). Since October, the M23 has seized the key highways into Goma, the provincial capital, as well as the hilltops overlooking Saké, located 10 kilometers to the west.
The outside world is ignoring a massive humanitarian disaster in an area with significant humanitarian needs for decades.
While nobody talked about it, Congolese player Héritier Luvumbu Nzinga celebrated a goal with one hand in front of his mouth and two fingers of the other on his temple, during a match between his club Rayon Sports and FC Police in Kigali.
This action was widely commented upon on social media networks, with many Rwandan Internet users calling on the club to suspend the player–going so far as to demand his expulsion from the country–and criticizing an act mixing competition with politics. Rayon Sports said it was “…appalled by the bad behavior” of the footballer in a statement issued on Monday afternoon, calling on team members to show “discipline,” both on and off the pitch.
Yet, Thousands of people are fleeing violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where conflict between the Congolese army and the M23 armed organization is intensifying.
The Congolese army and United Nations soldiers have been fighting to stop M23’s progress. As the conflict continues, thousands of Sake refugees have gathered in Bulengo, around 10 kilometers (six miles) west of Goma.
Over half a million people have abandoned their homes in the last two months, most of whom have settled in dismal camps surrounding Goma. A sea of crude houses built from wood and tarpaulins is spreading across fields studded with spiky black lava rocks. Mount Nyiragongo, an active volcano which serves as a dramatic background to Goma, bubbles in the distance. Congo is now facing world’s largest hunger catastrophe, where one-third of the youth are out of school, and the citizens suffer from crimes caused by armed groups who are targeting families, causing sexual assaults against women and children, rapidly depleting food supplies, and diminishing the potable water supply.
Noxious muck flows between shelters. Disease outbreaks pose a concern. Food is scarce. According to the World Food Program, there is enough food to satisfy just 2.5 million of the estimated 6.3 million people who sleep hungry every night in eastern Congo.
More than that, rape became a routine. A mother of seven confided in The New York Times that a gunman told her, “Either we assault you or kill you.” She responded to them, “I prefer to be raped.” After the horrific ordeal, her profuse bleeding necessitated a visit to the Doctors Without Borders clinic. It was the second time she had been raped by gunmen during the conflict.
In October, Doctors Without Borders treated an average of 70 sexual assault victims every day at its Goma clinics, according to a spokesman. This year, it has treated at least 18,000 patients in the North Kivu area.
Armed groups’ persistent violence in Ituri (North-East) Province has displaced over 550,000 people in recent months, bringing the total number of people forced to escape to 1.7 million, while the displaced persons tally has reached nearly 5.5 million individuals, including refugees.
In an already violent territory, M23 rebels launched a significant new attack in March 2022, igniting a battle that resulted in military involvement and mediation attempts by East African regional leaders, who brokered a truce last year.
Clashes between rebels, government forces, and self-defense organizations that support them have lately risen, driving entire populations in the Masisi and Rutshuru regions to escape to locations on Goma’s periphery perceived to be safer.
A missile landed near a university in Goma on Wednesday. The strike, which blew a crater into an area of open land in the Lac Vert suburb northwest of Goma, resulted in no injuries, but it highlighted the potential threat to the metropolis of almost two million inhabitants.
Congo’s agony began with the 1994 Rwandan slaughter. Following the killing, which claimed the lives of 800,000 people, a stream of refugees entered Congo, causing chaos and finally toppling the country’s kleptocratic tyrant, Mobutu Sese Seko, resulting in a disastrous civil war.
The genocide’s legacy is still on in Congo three decades later. Justifying his cross-border interventions, Rwandan President Paul Kagame said he is still looking for the ethnic Hutu assassins who committed the 1994 massacre in Congo.
However, economic and strategic considerations are important. Rwanda has always seen eastern Congo as both a strategic backyard (the Rwandan capital, Kigali, is only 60 miles from Goma) and a source of money. Congo’s finance minister claims that the smuggling of gold and other precious minerals through Rwanda costs the government $1 billion every year.
Maintaining even a semblance of democracy is difficult amid such instability. The M23 controls the Rutshuru and Masisi regions north of Goma; therefore, 1.5 million people will be unable to vote in Wednesday’s election.
When the M23 launched its final major onslaught a decade ago, the United States spearheaded attempts to contain it. President Barack Obama and senior officials reduced funds to Rwanda and personally phoned Kagame to exert pressure.
The West is divided as usual: The United States openly criticizes Rwanda’s engagement in Congo and recently reduced military funding to Rwanda. But Britain, whose government is attempting to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, has remained rather mute.