The March 23 Movement, popularly referred to as M23, has recently seized control of Goma, the largest city in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
According to a report by Reuters on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, the Rwanda-backed militia gained control of the Goma airport, marking the worst civil unrest escalation since 2012. The rebel group is reportedly moving south towards Bakavu, the capital of South Kivu province, in what appears to be an attempt to expand their territory and assert their grip of eastern DRC.
Following the recent escalation in conflict, several people have been killed whereas over 1 million others have been forced to flee their homes. A tally by AFP of tolls from the city’s overflowing hospitals, indicated that over 100 people have been killed and over 1,000 others wounded.
The rebels marched into Goma on Monday night and were met with resistance from government troops and allied militia. After hours of confrontation, they overpowered them and seized control of strategic infrastructure including the airport.
Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance (AFC), which includes DRC’s M23 rebels, told Reuters on Tuesday, January 28, that they plan to govern Goma.
History of M23
M23, which refers to the March 23, 2009, accord that ended a previous Tutsi-led revolt in eastern Congo, is a group of ethnic Congolese Tutsi-led insurgents operating primarily in Northern Kivu Province in eastern DRC.
The rebel group first seized control of Goma in November 2012, but Congolese troops, along with United Nations peacekeeping troops, retook control of the city, and the rebels announced a ceasefire and said that they wanted to resume peace talks.
M23 attempted to seize control of Goma again in 2017, but their efforts bore little fruit. The group made a bigger comeback in 2022, seeing control of the eastern town of Bunagana. In November 2022, M23 rebels got close to the city of Goma and forced about 180,000 people to leave their homes after the Congolese Army had withdrawn from the region near the village of Kibumba.
Rwanda’s involvement
The DRC government, U.N. officials and a section of Western powers including the United States have accused Congo’s neighbour Rwanda of fuelling the conflict by deploying thousands of its own troops and heavy weapons on Congolese soil in support of M23.
“There was no question that there are Rwandan troops in Goma supporting the M23,” said UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix, though he added that it was difficult to tell the exact numbers on the ground in Goma.
Tellingly, some Congolese army soldiers in Goma who surrendered on Monday did so by crossing over the border into Rwanda.
Since the conflict began, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has repeatedly denied any involvement in supporting the M23 rebels, who are well-equipped, well-armed and well-trained.
However, this response has noticeably shifted as accusations continue to grow with “overwhelming evidence” showing Rwanda’s support for the rebel group, according to Richard Moncrief, International Crisis Group’s project director for the Great Lakes
“The tone has changed to justification for defensive measures,” he told the BBC. “It has become harder to deny Rwanda’s support for M23.”
On Sunday, Rwanda’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “This fighting close to the Rwandan border continues to present a serious threat to Rwanda’s security and territorial integrity, and necessitates Rwanda’s sustained defensive posture.”
It said it was concerned by “misguided or manipulative” statements that lacked context about the conflict.
For Kagame, the context all comes down to the Rwandan genocide that took place over 100 days in 1994.
The ethnic Hutu militia involved in killing up to 800,000 people—the vast majority from the Tutsi community—fled to what is now the DR Congo, some forming the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
This rebel group is still active in the notoriously unstable eastern DR Congo—and still includes some of those responsible for the genocide.
Kagame, who headed the rebel Tutsi force that ended the killing more than three decades ago, sees this “genocidal militia” as an existential threat.
His government has twice invaded DR Congo, saying it wants to stop Hutu rebel groups from staging cross-border attacks.
Rwanda has a long history of military intervention inside Congo. It and Uganda invaded in 1996 and 1998, claiming they were defending themselves against local militia groups and going after the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
