At a recent emergency session of the U.N. Security Council, key officials from the United Nations based in Africa expressed their concerns regarding the recent military actions by Rwanda-supported rebels in the resource-rich eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). They stressed that these developments pose a significant threat to peace not only in the DRC but across the larger region.
“The urgency of the situation compels this council to take immediate and decisive actions to prevent a potential wider regional conflict,” stated Bintou Keita, the U.N. special envoy for Congo. Observations from leading representatives make it clear that “the danger of escalating into a regional war is more imminent today than it has ever been,” noted Huang Xia, the U.N. special envoy for the Great Lakes region, which encompasses DRC, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda.
Nicolas De Riviere, France’s ambassador to the U.N., called for prompt action by the council to endorse a resolution his country submitted earlier, which emphasizes the importance of upholding Congo’s sovereignty, calls for halting the M23 assault, demands the withdrawal of Rwandan troops, and advocates for the swift resumption of negotiations.
“The likelihood of a broader regional conflict is escalating daily,” he asserted. The M23 group is the largest of the over 100 armed factions vying for dominance over eastern DRC’s vast mineral resources, which include precious metals like gold and coltan, a crucial component in the production of consumer electronics such as smartphones and laptops.
Reports suggest that approximately 4,000 soldiers from Rwanda are backing the M23 rebels, who have openly expressed ambitions to advance as far as Kinshasa, the capital city of DRC, located over a thousand miles from their current positions.
In a remarkably swift three-week offensive, M23 militants captured the significant eastern city of Goma and succeeded in taking control of Bukavu, the second largest city, just this past Sunday. Keita, also leading the U.N. peacekeeping operations in DRC, informed the Security Council that M23 has continued to push forward, capturing the town of Kamanyola, strategically located at the intersection of three national borders: Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi.
At this point, the U.N. lacks clarity regarding the M23’s objectives, the intentions of their sponsors, or the extent of their plans, expressed Huang, the Great Lakes region envoy. “This conflict must be addressed before it escalates into an extensive regional war, which would have disastrous consequences and could derail the stability efforts made in Central Africa over the last decade,” he warned.
Additionally, the U.N. Human Rights Council has initiated an investigation into serious human rights abuses occurring amid this turmoil, including allegations of sexual violence and killings resembling summary executions by both adversarial parties.
