War in Congo: Fighting between rebels and army escalates

The conflict between the Congolese army and the M23 rebel group has escalated: In the past few days, the militias have captured the strategically important town of Minova and are now besieging the provincial capital Goma. The city on the banks of Lake Kivu, which is said to be home to around three million people including refugees, is largely surrounded. Heavy fighting is also taking place in the town of Sake, around 25 kilometers away, which represents the last hurdle for the rebels before Goma.

The rebels fire heavy artillery from positions on the surrounding hills. According to the UN, peacekeepers are patrolling with the Congolese army and helping to secure civilians caught in the crossfire. 13 international peacekeepers are said to have been killed in the fighting.

The three-year-old conflict between the Rwandan-backed rebel group M23 and the Congolese army in northeastern Congo last intensified in January of this year. Congo and the UN accuse Rwanda of fomenting the conflict with its own troops and weapons. The rebels are supposed to defend the interests of the Congolese Tutsi, an ethnic group to which Rwandan President Paul Kagame belongs. According to UN experts, there were 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan troops in Congo last year, “de facto” controlling the M23’s military actions.

Last year, a peace summit between the two countries planned for mid-December to end the war initially collapsed. Since then, relationships had continued to deteriorate.

“The situation of the civilian population in Goma is becoming increasingly dangerous and the need for humanitarian assistance is enormous,” said the human rights organization Human Rights Watch on Saturday. The escalation has further exacerbated the already catastrophic humanitarian situation. The UN has brought forward a Security Council meeting planned for Monday to Sunday, diplomatic sources said.

The conflict has displaced over 400,000 people in the region in the last three weeks alone, according to the United Nations. They lack food, water and medical care. Many people are fleeing across the border into neighboring Rwanda for fear of Goma being conquered.

The European Union, the African Union and the UN condemned Rwanda’s military presence in Congo and called the support for the M23 offensive by Rwandan forces a “clear violation of international law, the UN Charter and the territorial integrity of the DRC,” shared the EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

According to an expert report, there are more than 1,000 Rwandan soldiers in the region. Rwanda denies this. The rebels are accused of murders and mass rapes.

The federal government has now called on all German nationals who are in the province of North Kivu to leave the country. The Foreign Office also warned on Saturday evening against traveling to the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri and Tanganyika and to the neighboring regions of the provinces of Maniema, Tshopo, Haut-Katanga and Haut-Lomami.

If the situation worsens further, exit options via the Goma/Gisenyi border post or the airport may no longer be available or may only be difficult. Civilian flights are already regularly canceled. The crisis team discussed the situation in the Central African country on Friday.

The Central African country broke off all diplomatic relations with its neighbor Rwanda and recalled its diplomats from Rwanda. In addition, the Congolese Foreign Ministry, in a letter to the Rwandan Embassy, ​​called on the Rwandan authorities to suspend its diplomatic and consular activities in the Congolese capital within 48 hours.

A ministry official said late Saturday evening that the letter represented the most serious form of diplomatic collapse. Rwandan authorities could not be reached for comment due to the late hour.

Eastern Congo has rich reserves of raw materials. The metal coltan is particularly valuable. It plays an important role in the production of laptops, smartphones and the batteries of electric cars. The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the world’s most important coltan producers. The M23 militia controls metal mining in the conquered areas.