Eastern Congo still a theatre of scenes from hell as M23 rebels loot and kill hapless residents despite US-brokered ceasefire
Led mostly by Congolese Tutsis, the M23 launched an insurgency in late 2021, citing a broken peace deal and discrimination against Tutsi communities in the east. Since then, however, it has expanded with a political wing that includes national figures who want power across the country.
Former Congo President Kabila resurfaces at political meeting in Kenya despite absentia death sentence
Joseph Kabila was filmed in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, at a ceremony attended by a dozen other Congolese leaders who oppose President Felix Tshisekedi.
Swapping devils: Hallmark of life after M23 takeover in eastern Congo is forced labour and fears of by arrest rebels
Residents say local community leaders and institutions have been put to the service of the M23, who are imposing their own taxation system and compelling people to provide labour for military services.
Inside Congo’s killing fields, sickly and exploited artisanal miners slave away for world’s indifferent tech economies
Josaphat Musamba, a Congolese researcher and PhD student at Ghent University in Belgium, said suppressing the militia would be a tall order for the DRC’s military, which is no longer present in large swathes of M23-controlled territory.
Cry, the beloved country: How Congo’s mines power world’s tech industry that reciprocates with guns and bombs
According to a December UN report, the scale of the trade reached new heights after the capture of Rubaya by M23. The rebels went on to establish a parallel administration controlling mining activities, trade, transport and the taxation of the minerals produced there, the UN reported.
Congo and Rwanda-backed rebels agree to end decades-long conflict in eastern Congo via declaration of principles
Backed by neighbouring Rwanda, the M23 is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups fighting for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east. With seven million people displaced in Congo, the UN has called the conflict in eastern Congo “one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth.”
New confidential report by UN experts accuses Rwanda of commanding and controlling M23 rebels
Rwanda has long denied helping M23 and says its forces are acting in self-defence against Congo’s army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
‘We’re getting for US a lot of mineral rights from the Congo’, Trump makes American interests clear in DRC, Rwanda peace deal
Rwanda has sent at least 7,000 soldiers over the border, according to analysts and diplomats, in support of the M23 rebels, who seized eastern Congo’s two largest cities and lucrative mining areas in a lightning advance earlier this year.
