Era of War Travels to Africa as Rwanda ‘Invades’ Congo

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Rwanda-backed Rebels Enter Congo’s Gomo, killing UN Peacekeepers

By Raisina Correspondent

New Delhi, January 27: Multiple reports said that the Rwanda-backed M23 (March 23 Movement) has stormed into Congo’s largest city Goma. People in thousands were seen leaving the city while the Rwanda-backed rebels entered the border city in Congo, added reports.

Congolese Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner addressed a press conference in which she said that at least 13 foreign peacekeepers had been killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The South African soldiers stationed in Congo as a part of the UN Peace keeping efforts died in clashes with the rebels, she added.

The mineral rich eastern regions of Congo have been ravaged with conflicts. The Sky News in a report from Goma said that rebels have taken over the city. It quoted sources in M23, saying that “they’re liberating Goma from Congo”.

The report also stated that the M23 rebels are targeting the old Congolese army personnel. Congo has raised the ‘invasion’ in an emergency intervention in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Congo has declared that Rwanda has invaded the country to force a war.

Hopewell Chin’ono, an African journalist, in a long post on X gave background to the conflict, saying: “The M23 originated from the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), a Tutsi-led rebel group in the DRC that operated in the mid-2000s”.

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“The CNDP was mainly focused on protecting the rights of Congolese Tutsis (Banyarwanda) who faced discrimination and violence, particularly after the 1994 Rwandan Genocide,” he added.

The New Times (Rwanda) shared images doing rounds on the social media platforms of FARDC soldiers (Congolese army) “reportedly handing over their weapons to MONUSCO, the UN force in Congo, in Goma ahead of the 3 a.m. deadline set by the advancing M23 rebels”.

Ground reports said that mass ‘panic’ in Gomo triggered further displacement of the people. Decades of armed conflicts have already displaced millions of people in the border areas between Congo and Rwanda.

Goma is a city in the North Kivu province of Congo. A UN report said that one-third population in the province had previously been displaced.

The M23 rebels in a press statement has asked the people in Goma to “stay calm”. The UN’s special representative for Congo in an SOS to the UN Security Council said that the peacekeepers have been trapped.

Congo has called upon the UN sanction Rwanda for “declaration of war”. Earlier, Congo had snapped diplomatic ties with Rwanda.

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