The rebels of the M23, supported by Rwanda, seem to have consolidated their control over Goma, the largest city in eastern Congo. Sporadic shots are sometimes heard in certain peripheral districts, but calm seems to dominate this Wednesday, according to AFP, Reuters and RFI journalists. The fall of the city seems imminent, which should then spread to North Kivu, a strategic region shaken for 30 years by violence between armed groups.
The rebel fighters, supported by the Rwandan troops, entered the lake in the lake on Monday of nearly 2 million inhabitants, as part of the worst climb of this hidden conflict, leaving bodies in the streets and overwhelmed hospitals. They seized the city’s international airport on Tuesday, which could cut the main route of aid to hundreds of thousands of displaced people. Still on Tuesday, in a stadium of Goma, hundreds of government soldiers and unarmed militiamen sat on the football field while others aligned themselves in the context of what the M23 fighters described as a process disarmament. Bertrand Bisimwa, who directs the M23 political wing, said on X that the last pockets of resistance to Goma had been eliminated. “Our army is working hard to guarantee total security, total tranquility and definitive peace as is the case for all their compatriots living in liberated areas,” he wrote.
The latest insecurity pockets in the town of Goma that the regime of Mr. Tshilombo calls for resistance are made up, in large numbers, by FDLR and the residual FARDC and WAZALENDO. They were mastered by our soldiers.
Let us condemn the irresponsible attitude and … pic.twitter.com/z1jTO6khjg
– Bertrand Bisimwa (@bbisimwa) January 28, 2025
In the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, 1,600 km west of Goma, demonstrators attacked a UN complex and the French, Rwanda and the United States Embassies, angry with what they consider as a foreign interference.
Despite the appointment, by the Congolese authorities, on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, of a new military governor in North Kivu, to replace the fatally injured general on the front line a few days ago, this Wednesday, the M23 and the Rwandan army control the area around the airport. They also now occupy almost all of the center and the suburbs of Goma. “We hear sporadic shots in the neighborhood. These are certainly Wazalendo, “said a resident of the northern district of Majengo, in reference to the militias who were allied with the government in 2022 to resist the advances of the M23 in the hinterland, and which Bisimwa evokes in his message.
The assault on Goma, which would have left at least 100 dead and more than 1,000 injured, according to information provided by several hospitals, aroused a large international conviction of Rwanda and calls to the ceasefire. On Tuesday, the United States asked the United Nations Security Council to consider measures to end the offensive. The Chinese ambassador called on Rwanda to hear the requests that are increasing to no longer support the M23 armed group. According to the UN, 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan soldiers would support M23.
Beijing, Washington, the UN, ask Rwanda to stop its destabilization
During an emergency meeting of the African Union, members of the Peace and Security Council urged the M23 fighters on Tuesday “to lay down their arms”. An extraordinary summit of the community of Eastern African States (EAC) is scheduled for Wednesday in Nairobi (Kenya). Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi, who should speak publicly in the evening, will not participate.
The M23 is the last of a series of insurrectional movements led by the Tutsia ethnicity and supported by Rwanda which rocked the Democratic Republic of Congo since the genocide in Rwanda 30 years ago, when Hutu extremists killed Tutsis And moderate Hutus, before being overthrown by the Tutsia forces led by Kagame. Rwanda claims that some of the ousted authors have taken refuge in Congo since the genocide, forming militias with the consent of the Congolese government, and that they represent a threat to the Congolese Tutsis and Rwanda itself.
The Congo rejects the complaints of Rwanda and affirms that Rwanda has used its supplementary militias to control and loot lucrative minerals such as the Coltan, which makes it possible to extract the tantalum, used both in smartphones, capacitors and surgical implants.
The M23 grabbed Goma in 2012 during its last great insurrection, but retired after a few days following intense international pressures and threats to withdraw from Rwanda aid. Analysts and diplomats say it is unlikely that this type of pressure will materialize this time, due to the reluctance of the world powers to tackle Rwanda, which has positioned itself as a stable partner in a tumultuous region.
In a message published on X in the night, Rwandan President Paul Kagame said that he had agreed, during a telephone call with American Secretary of State Marco Rubio, of the need for a cease-fire And to “tackle the deep causes of the conflict once and for all”, but he gave no indication that he would comply with the requirements of a withdrawal from Goma.
Had a productive conversation with Secretary Rubio @Secrubio on the need to ensure a ceasefire in Eastern DRC and address the root causes of the conflict once and for all, and on the importance of deepening our bilateral ties based upon respect for our respective national…
– Paul Kagame (@PaulKagame) January 28, 2025
The head of American diplomacy told Paul Kagame that Washington was “deeply disturbed” by climbing; He urged respect for “sovereign territorial integrity” of the two countries, said the US State Department in a press release.
However, this Wednesday in the middle of the day, a high Rwandan diplomat says that M23 will continue its progress in the Congolese East: “They will continue in South Kivu, because Goma (capital of North Kivu, editor’s note) cannot Not to be an end in itself, unless among the time they negotiate with the government of Kinshasa, which I doubt, “Vincent Karega, Rwanda Rwanda Ambassador for the Great Lakes region, told AFP.