The armed group M23, supported by the Rwandan army, has launched a broad offensive against the Congolese Armed Forces in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that has taken it this Thursday to the gates of Goma, capital of the province of North Kivu, with the intention of taking it. The upsurge in violence in the last week has caused a new wave of more than 250,000 displaced people, according to the UN, who are fleeing in disarray towards Goma. In total, in January the number of displaced people in North Kivu and South Kivu has reached 400,000, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi has rushed back to the country from the Davos summit and called an urgent meeting of the defense council. For his part, the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has warned of the risk of regionalization of the conflict. “This offensive is having devastating effects on the civilian population and has increased the risk of a broader regional war,” Guterres said in a statement.
The M23 assured this Friday that its objective is to take the capital of North Kivu. “We are on the way to liberate our compatriots from Goma and restore the security and dignity of the Congolese population,” said Lawrence Kanyuka, spokesperson for M23, in a statement released through X. The offensive of the rebels and the Forces Rwandan armed forces, which have intensified since the 18th, are taking place on different fronts.
This Friday, numerous witnesses told local media about the existence of clashes in Kibumba, about 20 kilometers north of Goma. On Thursday, the rebels managed to occupy the town of Sake, also about 20 kilometers south of the capital of North Kivu. In the afternoon, the Congolese Army launched a counteroffensive to stop their advance. On Tuesday, the strategic city of Minova fell to the insurgents. “For the first time, the conflict extends to South Kivu,” said Ndèye Khady Lo, spokesperson for the UN Mission in Congo (Monusco).
The M23 announced this Thursday the death of Congolese General Peter Chirimwami, military governor of North Kivu, who had moved to Sake to direct the Army’s counteroffensive. “He was killed in Kasengezi when he was going to the front to take a photo,” Kanyuka told different media. Congolese authorities have not confirmed Chirimwami’s death. Tens of thousands of displaced people are arriving in Goma these days and its hospital is overwhelmed by the large presence of wounded. Schools have closed and thousands of people, including diplomatic mission staff, are also fleeing to neighboring Rwanda. The fear that Goma will imminently fall into rebel hands is very present.
On the ground, not only rebels and the Congolese Army are fighting. The M23 has the support of some 5,000 Rwandan soldiers, as reported by Kinshasa, while the Congolese Armed Forces have the support of soldiers from the southern African community, especially South Africans, as well as the Wazalendos self-defense forces. Likewise, Monusco troops are involved in trying to secure the roads along which displaced people are fleeing and protect civilians. This Thursday a mortar projectile launched from territory controlled by the M23 fell on a blue helmet position near Sake.
The rebel advance towards Goma has caused Tshisekedi to return to Kinshasa, the country’s capital, where this Thursday he held an urgent meeting with the head of Government and the Ministers of Defense and Interior. This Friday a meeting of the superior defense council will be held to analyze the situation. For his part, Rwandan President Paul Kagame was in Ankara this Thursday where he held a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who announced his willingness to mediate between the DRC and Rwanda to resolve this conflict. The Turkish president has just achieved diplomatic success in his mediation between Somalia and Ethiopia over the Somaliland crisis.
The South African Minister of Defense, Angie Motshekga, who was in Kinshasa, traveled this Friday to Beni, in North Kivu, and plans to arrive in Goma. Some 2,900 South African soldiers are the backbone of the southern African regional military force that is also trying to stop the advance of the rebels. On December 15, a meeting between Tshisekedi and Kagame in Luanda, the Angolan capital, was suspended at the last minute after the latter accused the Congolese authorities of refusing to negotiate with the M23.
