Pre-Trip Information

Africa: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Africa: Rwanda

Congo (DRC) accuses Rwanda of drone attack on Goma Airport

Escalating violence in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has forced the displacement of close to seven million people.  According to the United Nations, violence in the North Kivu province resulted in a mass exodus  of Congolese civilians.  The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration data from all 26 of the country's provinces suggest that most of the displaced persons lived in the east — from Kanyaruchinya to Goma — where the violence has been concentrated.

At the center of the violence? The conflict between Congo DRC and the M23 rebels, which is  a rebel military group  formed of ethnic Tutsis.

Central Africa has been rocked by conflict since 1994 when, at the end of the  Rwanda genocide against Tutsis, ethnic Hutus responsible for that genocide fled across the border to Congo (DRC). While the Hutu rebels have remained active, so too have ethnic Tutsi rebels. At issue for both Congo DRC and Rwanda  was the eradication of the rebel groups that found their genesis in the Tutsi-Hutu conflict of the 1990s, which reached a nadir with the Hutus' genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda, and which left more than one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead.

Since that time, a Hutu militia -- known as Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (known in French as Forces democratiques de liberation du Rwanda and, therefore, via the acronym FDLR) -- has found safe haven in Congo DRC. Indeed, the government of Rwanda has accused the government of former Congolese President Joseph Kabila of backing the FDLR.  At the start of 2015, the United Nations Security Council backed action to "neutralize" the Rwandan rebel group FDLR still active in DRC following the expiration of a deadline to disarm and surrender.

Meanwhile, the government of Congo DRC has accused Rwanda, led by President Paul Kagame, of supporting the M23 rebels.  Named for The March 23 Movement (in French: Mouvement du 23 mars), the M23 is a contemporary incarnation of Congolese Tutsi rebels who were embroiled in the conflict with Rwandan Hutu rebels, and were now continuing that fight in Congo DRC territory, particularly around the area of Goma.

With thousands of civilians displaced in the process of increased rebel activity, a multilateral response was needed to prevent  renewed conflict in Central Africa that could draw in several countries. In 2012, the governments of Congo DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda found concurrence  on the situation in the eastern Congo DRC and issued a joint statement demanding that the M23 "stop all war activities and withdraw from Goma."  On Dec. 1, 2012, all indications were that the M23 rebels were, in fact, heeding that call and were withdrawing from Goma. There, nevertheless, remained concerns that the Rwandan government was surreptitiously supporting the rebels.

To this latter end, there was some evidence that money sourced in Rwanda was being used to fund the M23.  A former rebel said in an interview with BBC News that there was some engagement with a government delegation from Rwanda, suggesting a shift from a grassroots rebel movement to state-sponsored conflict.  The former rebel claimed that many rebels were given food, medicine, uniforms, and even money to participate in the rebel movement, but some factions withdrew from the effort when they learned of the involvement of Rwanda.  These claims clearly were being made by a single individual who was acting a source to the BBC; however, his notions about the involvement of the Rwandan government appeared to coincide with a United Nations report that found a M23 chain of command that led all the way up to the Rwandan minister of defense.

With the M23 rebel leader, Bosco Ntaganda, in custody at the United States embassy in the spring of 2013 and set to be transferred to The Hague, it was hoped that more firm evidence about the activities of rebel groups and state sponsors might emerge and inform the complex conflagration plaguing the region of Central Africa.

Ntaganda soon landed in The Hague.  On March 25, 2013, he  was standing before the International Criminal Court (ICC) at an initial hearing where he heard the charges against him and a trial to begin.  Ntaganda would face  seven counts of war crimes and three counts of crimes against humanity allegedly committed  in DRC in 2002 and 2003 during that forthcoming trial at the ICC. For his part,  Ntaganda has maintained his innocence.    In 2019, Ntaganda was convicted by the ICC of war crimes and sentenced to 30 years in prison for crimes against humanity.

Meanwhile, in  late 2013, the M23 rebel enclave released a statement says it was ending its insurgency in the eastern Congo DRC and would move to adopt "purely political means" to secure its objectives. The leadership also called on rebel fighters to relinquish their weapons and stand down. A peace deal was finally signed in December 2013.

At the time,  the government of Congo DRC warned that with the M23 no longer posing a national security threat, it would turn its attention to the Rwandan Hutu militia, FDLR. To that end, December 2013 was marked by reports of droves of Hutu rebels surrendering to United Nations peacekeepers in Congo DRC.

The threat posed by M23 was not actually extinguished.  In 2017, a splinter group of M23 resumed its insurgency. At the time, its activities were not deemed to be pressing.  That assessment changed in 2022 when the greater M23 commenced an offensive and captured territory close to the Congo DRC border with Rwanda.  Once again, the government of Congo DRC accused the Rwandan government of President Kagame of supporting the M23 and, as before, Rwanda dismissed the claims.

In November 2022, M23 rebels were in the area of Goma and forced 180,000 people  from their homes.  By February 2023, M23 was in control of a significant portion of territory in North Kivu including key thoroughfares into Goma.  Then, in October 2023,  the M23 rebels had stepped up their attacks, forcing close to seven million civilians to flee their homes, setting the foundation for a serious humanitarian crisis.

Fast-forward to February 2024 and Congo DRC was accusing Rwanda of carrying out a night-time drone attack on the airport in the strategic city of Goma. The attack damaged civilian aircraft, escalating tensions amid recent fighting between M23 rebels and Congolese government forces near the town of Sake.

While army aircraft were reportedly unharmed, civilian aircraft suffered damage in the attack. The Rwandan government did not respond to the allegations. Security sources confirmed the bombing but lacked details on the source of the attack or the extent of the damage.

Despite the reported bombs, airport operations remained normal, with commercial, military, and humanitarian flights operating as usual. The recent escalation of violence in eastern DRC has led to civilian displacement towards Goma, exacerbating an already volatile situation.

The United Nations Security Council expressed concern over the escalating violence, condemning the M23 rebels' offensive near Goma. The DRC government, supported by the U.N. and Western countries, accuses Rwanda of backing the rebels to control mineral resources, a claim denied by Kigali.

According to a confidential U.N. document, Rwandan forces were allegedly using sophisticated weapons to support the M23 rebels, including surface-to-air missiles. Diplomatic efforts to address the conflict had thus far been unsuccessful, with African leaders discussing the situation at a summit in Addis Ababa. Despite the challenges, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, who was sworn in for a second term in January 2024, continued to navigate the complex political landscape of the region.