By Voice of America (Africa) | Created at 2025-01-30 03:41:38 | Updated at 2025-01-30 17:58:43
14 hours ago
Dead bodies lie on the streets of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, as heavy fighting continues between Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, and the DRC forces supported by international peacekeeping troops.
The rebels have attacked foreign embassies, the United Nations mission, and taken control of Goma’s international airport, cutting off the much-needed humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of displaced people in the war-torn region.
Hospitals are overwhelmed in the city of over 2 million people, and international workers are fleeing the region.
The U.N. said on Jan. 28 the Rwanda-backed violent intrusion of M23 rebels in Congo caused "one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world" and the killings of the U.N. peacekeepers.
The U.N. and Western nations demanded that Rwanda withdrew its troops from the neighboring country and returned to the terms of the Luanda Process – a treaty signed in 2022 in Angola to stop the war in Congo.
In response, the Rwandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed it was the international peacekeepers who triggered the latest hostilities in Congo.
"The ongoing conflict in Eastern DRC particularly the recent heavy fighting in Goma was triggered by constant violations of ceasefire by the Congolese Armed Forces in coalition with UN sanctioned militia FDLR, European mercenaries, Ethnic militias (Wazalendo) Burundian armed forces, SMIDRC forces, as well as MUNUSCO."
That is misleading.
The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels triggered the ongoing hostilities by launching an offensive north of Goma, on Oct. 26, 2023, in violation of the Luanda process.
M23 is a militant group formed on March 23, 2009, claiming to defend the interests of Congolese Tutsi and Kinyarwanda-speaking minorities in DRC.
The U.S and U.N. have sanctioned M23 since January 2013 for having committed serious crimes involving the targeting of children in the conflict in the DRC, including recruitment, killing, maiming and sexual violence against minors.
After the escalation in 2023, the DRC accused the Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) of fighting alongside the M23, while Rwanda claimed that the DRC supported a Hutu rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
Rwanda accuses FDLR members of committing the 1994 Rwanda massacre, which claimed lives of over 1 million Rwandans.
The Burundian armed forces and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC) are among the regional peacekeepers deployed to support the DRC government in restoring peace and security in eastern DRC.
While MUNUSCO is the U.N. peacekeeping mission that has been in Congo since 2010.
On Jan. 28, U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea, Chargé d ’Affairs ad interim at the U.N. security council, mourned the deaths of MUNUSCO and SAMIDRC troops killed during the latest attacks and said, "Rwanda must withdraw troops from the DRC."
"Rwanda and the DRC must return to the negotiating table and work toward a sustainable, peaceful solution," Ambassador Shea stated.
The Rwandan Foreign Ministry also claimed in the same statement, "Rwanda notes in concern the lack of important context on statements issued by various parties on the situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Misguided or manipulative statements do not provide any solutions."
That claim is also misleading.
Calling on Rwanda to withdraw its armed forces from the DRC territorial boundaries is not manipulative or misguided, as the Rwandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs alleges. Contrary to that, international calls are for halting violent fighting and returning to peace negotiations.
On Jan. 26, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, called on "Rwanda Defense Forces to cease support to the M23 and withdraw from DRC territory."
A similar statement from the European Union read, "The EU strongly condemns Rwanda’s military presence in the DRC as a clear violation of international law, the U.N. Charter, and the territorial integrity of the DRC."
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a phone call conversation with the DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, "condemned the assault on Goma by the Rwanda-backed M23 and affirmed the United States’ respect for the sovereignty of the DRC."
On Jan. 28, Rwandan President Paul Kagame shared on X that he "had a productive conversation with Secretary Rubio on the need to ensure a ceasefire in Eastern DRC and address the root causes of the conflict once and for all."
Rwanda’s claim that the international statements lack "important context" is also misleading.
The EU said the presence of the M23 in Goma is "deepening the disastrous humanitarian crisis in eastern DRC."
"This advance has pushed additional internally displaced persons (IDPs) towards the overburdened camps around Goma, where more than 800.000 IDPs are sheltered," the EU said in a statement.
