Rebels Have Seized A Strategic City In The Congo And Now A Regional War Might Be Breaking Out

This is the biggest story you’re not hearing about.

Rebels have seized a strategic city in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DRC, and now a regional war might be breaking out in Africa.

To fully understand this story, we must first leave the DRC and head back in time to 1994, to the nearby country of Rwanda.

This was the year of the Rwandan genocide, when extremists from the majority ethnic group, known as the Hutus, slaughtered an estimated 800,000 people from the minority ethnic group, the Tutsis, in a span of just over 100 days.

However, a Tutsi rebel group was able to put an end to the genocide and gain control of the country, with the leader of the rebel group, Paul Kagame, now serving as the president of Rwanda.

In the aftermath, many of the Hutu extremists fled to the DRC nearby and formed armed groups, which still operates today.

Since then, Rwanda has continued to claim that the Hutu groups in the DRC are threatening its security and used this to justify having a military presence in eastern DRC near their border.

It is also widely reported to be backing a rebel military group called the M23 that is made up of mainly Tutsis in the area.

M23 says that it is fighting against the Hutu groups to protect the rights of the Tutsi minority and ensure they are safe from discrimination and violence from the DRC government.

But M23 — and Rwanda — most likely has other interests too.

That’s because Eastern DRC, where M23 operates, is incredibly rich in natural resources, such as gold, coltan, cobalt and tin.

These are the minerals that power all sorts of electronics, from smartphones to electric cars, making control of the area highly coveted.

In fact, M23 has gained control over several lucrative mining areas in eastern DRC in recent years, and a UN report from just December 2024 found the M23 has been smuggling 120 tonnes of coltan into Rwanda every four weeks.

Meanwhile, Rwanda’s mineral exports have also surged in recent years, and most of it is believed to have come from the DRC.

Now, fast forward to this year, in January 2025, M23 launched a rapid advance in the Kivu region and took control of the regional capital, Goma, which is an essential hub for trade and smuggling routes, on Jan. 27.

At least 900 people have been killed from the intense fighting between M23 fighters, alongside a reported 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan troops, and Congolese government troops, thousands have been injured and more than 500,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in January alone, according to the UN.

The DRC government has called Rwanda’s support for M23 “a declaration of war” and suspended all diplomatic relations.

After capturing Goma, the head of the M23 had said that the group intended to continue all the way to the DRC capital, Kinshasa.

However, on Tuesday, Feb. 4, the M23 announced that it was declaring an unilateral ceasefire for humanitarian reasons.

The DRC government has yet to comment on the ceasefire, and it remains unclear if the DRC military will also pause fighting.

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