The Rwandan-backed M23 militants fuelling conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo

Congolese rebels and allied Rwandan troops claimed on Monday to have captured the mineral-rich city of Goma, as thousands fled fighting that killed at least 13 peacekeepers over the weekend. The M23 rebel group has made significant territorial gains along the Rwandan border in recent weeks now claiming Goma, the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The offensive has drawn condemnation from Western nations, including Britain and France, who have called on Rwanda to withdraw support for the rebel group. Kigali has denied being behind the rebellion. When did the current conflict start? The conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has roots stretching back decades and a tangled history of rebel groups and foreign interventions. As many as six million people may have died in the past 30 years and the country has one of the largest displaced populations in the world. Conflict erupted after the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when ethnic Hutu extremists killed up to 800,000 minority ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

In the aftermath, some 2 million Rwandans fled into eastern DRC, including Hutu militias accused of taking part in the bloodbath. Rwanda, Uganda and Angola invaded eastern DRC to fight militia groups, in a conflict so deadly it was nicknamed Africa’s World War. United Nations forces were deployed to keep the peace in 1999.

Kigali has since been accused of backing rebel groups, like the M23, operating within its neighbour’s borders. Rwanda says Hutu groups in the DRC still pose a threat, but critics allege it’s more interested in gaining mineral wealth.

Since 2021, Congo’s government and allied forces, including United Nations troops, have been keeping the M23 rebel group away from Goma. In March 2022, the M23 movement, supported by Rwanda, launched an offensive in North Kivu against Congo’s army and UN forces. Who are M23? M23, referring to March 23 2009, is a Rwanda-backed rebel group whose purpose is to take up arms against the DRC. The rebel group has accused the Congolese government of not upholding a 2009 peace deal that ended a Tutsi-led revolt in eastern Congo.