DR Congo’s Conflict: Rwanda’s motives to support the M23 rebels 

For a long time Kinshasa has accused neighboring Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels that have been engaged in intense fighting with the Congolese army in eastern DR Congo. The United Nations also blames Kigali for funding, training, and equipping the group. Now Rwanda has acknowledged it has military installments in eastern DR Congo to defend Rwanda from the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), an armed rebel group whose members include alleged perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Intense fighting between the Congolese army and the Tutsi M23 rebels is exacerbating the security crisis in eastern DR Congo as the M23 rebel fighters advance towards North Kivu’s provincial capital, Goma, bordering Rwanda and Uganda.

The Congolese army and M23 have been fighting for control of Goma and the surrounding area for many years. In November 2012, M23 briefly seized Goma – a strategic city inhabiting approximately one million people – later the rebels withdrew from Goma after signing an agreement with the government brokered by Uganda. The M23 is the most significant threat to Congo’s sovereignty due to its alleged ties with Rwanda.

France day calls on Rwanda to end “all support” for Tutsi M23 rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and to pull its troops out of the country.  The United States also warns Rwanda and the DRC at the UN that they ‘must walk back from the brink of war’. Washington strongly condemns the worsening violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) caused by the actions of the Rwanda-backed, U.S – and UN-sanctioned M23 armed group. However, Rwanda said it reserved the right to take “any legitimate measure” to defend itself, including degrading offensive air capabilities within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, amid the intensification of fighting in eastern Congo between Congolese authorities and M23 rebels. 

Rwanda says that the military installments are in eastern DRC to defend Rwanda from the FDLR. FDLR wascreated with the aim to re-take power in Rwanda.  FDLR founders were part of the former Rwandan government and Interahamwe militias. 

Rwandan elites may simultaneously see the FDLR’s presence in the DRC both as the force to undermine their authority and as useful justification ‘to interfere in the DRC’.

In June 2023 the GoE’s reported that it had “obtained further evidence – including documentary and photographic evidence and aerial footage – of military operations by soldiers clearly attired in RDF military uniform in Rutshuru, Masisi and Nyiragongo territories [areas in the DRC’s North Kivu province.]”

“The M23 group is used by Rwanda to protect Rwandan interests in eastern Congo. Rwanda has political, security and economic interests in the DRC and sees the FDLR as a major threat to its security. The Congolese army is said to collaborate with the FDLR that angers Kigali.

Rwanda has demanded the demobilization and repatriation of the DRC-backed FDLR rebel group as a condition to de-escalate a simmering conflict with Kinshasa.

Formal and informal trade between DR Congo and Rwanda is flourishing, especially in gold. “Gold is an important source of income for Kigali, and much of it comes from eastern Congo.

Some experts think that it occupies an important place in the geopolitical competition between Uganda, Rwanda, and Congo.

Rwanda’s largest export was Congolese gold, which rose from 1% in 2014 to 47% in 2020. The same trend can be seen in Uganda, where gold made up 56% of its exports in 2021.

Because of tribal groups’ settlement, Rwanda considers parts of eastern Congo as its sphere of influence. However, in November 2021, the Ugandan army sent troops to the eastern DRC in a joint offensive with the Congolese army against the ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) rebels. The ADF, historically a Ugandan Muslim majority rebel coalition, established itself in eastern DRC in 1995 and has operated for years along the border areas of both countries.

Uganda’s intervention has further disrupted the fragile regional balance. It leads to the founding the M23 at the end of 2021.

This military rebel group, which consists mainly of ethnic Tutsis, broke away from the Congolese army just over ten years ago.

In 2013 the M23 rebellion was crushed by the army and the fighters and their leaders fled to Uganda and Rwanda.

According to a negotiated peace agreement the M23 had to be integrated into the Congolese army but the document has not been implemented.

The M23 group accuses the Congolese authorities of failing to combat the Rwandan Hutu rebels who settled in eastern Congo after the Rwandan genocide in 1994, as well as other armed groups that pose a threat to Congolese Tutsis.

‘The resurgence of the M23 was a reflection of the deteriorating relations between Kinshasa and Kigali’, analyst Kristof Titeca said. 

Rwanda remains a critical geopolitical player in the region. Many consider it as an example of how donor aid should be implemented, with its efficient health sector.However, a war between DRC and Rwanda is unlikely. The Congolese army does not have the best reputation in terms of efficiency and functionality. Thus, the success of a Congolese operation would not be guaranteed.

.