Africa, the eternal wound

We are just a few months into 2025 and, unfortunately, we are witnessing one of those situations in which the probability of a humanitarian catastrophe of enormous proportions is very high. 

And the saddest thing is that events are sliding in that direction in a way that should be familiar to us by now and therefore easy to identify in order to try to put a stop to it. But, once again, the world is more concerned with other matters, which are undoubtedly important and momentous, but which should not make us look away from the heart of Africa. 

The roots of the conflict between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda are very complex, deep and long-standing, and this has meant that, despite certain periods of apparent tranquillity, it has always remained latent.

What is certain and evident is that while the world held its breath with all our attention fixed on the invasion of Ukraine, the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the exchange of blows with Iran and the confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the situation between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has deteriorated significantly, experiencing a significant escalation, marked by armed confrontations, massive population displacements and some ineffective diplomatic efforts to achieve peace. And for many this is probably the first news they have heard about it. 

This deterioration has been increasing especially in the last two years, with the main focus being on the east of the DRC, where various armed groups, including the one known as the March 23 Movement (M23), have significantly increased the violence with a growing number of actions that have caused the displacement of thousands of people. 

This rebel group, which had been practically inactive, although not disappeared, for a decade, resumed the armed struggle at the beginning of 2023. The consequence was an intensification of the fighting, especially in the province of North Kivu, in the east of the DRC, the main consequence of which was an increase in tensions between Kinshasa and Kigali due to accusations by the Congolese government blaming Rwanda for encouraging and supporting the M23. Accusations that Rwanda obviously denied. 

For anyone of a certain age, this situation brings back unhappy memories. The Great Lakes region has its worst punishment in what we might consider to be its greatest treasures. It is an area of breathtaking natural beauty, concealing within its depths natural resources of all kinds, some of them fundamental. From the wealth of the forests, to the water and the land itself, which favours the cultivation of coffee, tea, tropical fruits and cocoa, all of them, especially the latter, very lucrative businesses. But the ultimate reason for interest in the area is its mineral resources. The region is very rich in diamonds, gold, coltan, tin, tungsten and cobalt. And some of the main deposits straddle the border between the two countries, especially those of coltan, an essential component in the manufacture of electronic devices.

It is precisely the exploitation of these resources that has been a very important factor in the conflicts in the region. Both governments and armed groups, as well as private companies, in an environment of great corruption, have fought to gain control of the mines, and the profits have been used by the rebel groups to finance their activities. This has only contributed to the instability of a region already problematic due to racial and ethnic tensions, generating a vicious circle that barely three decades ago led to one of the most horrific genocides ever known. 

As is the case in a large part of the African continent, the territorial divisions that define nations do not correspond in large part to what we could call historical or natural divisions. Sticking to the latter is, however, or rather would have been in any case, an almost impossible task due to the complexity and volatility of tribal relations. But the truth is that reality does not exactly help to make things easier. Specifically in the Great Lakes region, ethnic rivalry, which over time also became political, between the Hutu and Tutsi communities has been the main cause of instability, and competition for control of natural resources must also be added to this. All these factors have led to the emergence of armed groups of all kinds which, for one reason or another, find reasons to take the path of violent struggle. 

Specifically, the relationship between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has historically been tense and conflictive, and has been marked by cycles of violence and mutual distrust. Although there are various factors, such as those mentioned above, which feed off each other, the consequences of the Rwandan genocide are still being felt. And this is one of the main causes of the current situation. 

The 1994 genocide in Rwanda, in which Hutu extremists massacred Tutsis and moderate Hutus, left a deep scar on the region. 

The assassination in April of that year of General Juvénal Habyarimana and the advance of the Rwandan Patriotic Front triggered a multitude of massacres in the country against the Tutsis, which forced a massive displacement of people towards refugee camps located on the border with neighbouring countries, especially Zaire (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo). In August 1995, Zairean troops attempted to expel these displaced persons to Rwanda, returning almost fourteen thousand people, while another 150,000 took refuge in the mountains. 

During the genocide, more than 800,000 people were killed and almost all the women who survived the genocide were raped. It is estimated that approximately 75% of the Tutsi population was massacred. However, reality is never black and white, and in this case there are many elements, mainly economic and power control, to consider, leading us to the conclusion that it was not exactly a genocide of Hutus against Tutsis, but rather it was a radical and majority faction of the Hutus that prepared the mass annihilation of both Tutsis and moderate Hutus or opponents of the Habyarimana regime and those close to the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in order to retain power and control of natural resources. For this reason, the genocide cannot be considered to be solely ethnic in nature, but also political. 

It is also important to point out that there were victims and atrocities on both sides, with thousands of Hutus dying at the hands of members of the Rwandan Patriotic Front. 

After the genocide, the radical Hutu government and almost two million members of their ethnic group fled to the city of Goma, establishing the largest refugee camp in the world. 

Shortly after this barbarity, in 1996, the new Rwandan government, with the support of Uganda, intervened in the Congo under the pretext of searching for those responsible for the genocide, starting what is known as the first Congo war. 

Since then, tensions between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have remained high, occasionally leading to armed clashes. The unstable situation in the Congo, where there are up to a hundred armed groups, must also be taken into account. 

Among these groups is the aforementioned M23, made up of former combatants of the National Congress for the Defence of the People. This organisation signed a peace agreement with the government of Joseph Kabila; however, some of its members accused the government of breaching the agreements and created this new group. Its members are mainly ethnic Tutsi Congolese, and from the beginning of its activity the government in Kinshasa has accused Rwanda of being behind its activities. 

The group's activity has been intermittent since its creation, but for about a decade it had almost disappeared. Its area of operation has usually been the North Kivu region, where the important city of Goma is located, which in the past was the scene of heavy fighting and even a takeover by the M23. 

The relative calm ended in 2022 when the M23 intensified its attacks in the region, especially against the Congolese Armed Forces. The first consequence of this was the displacement of thousands of people and new accusations against Rwanda of supporting the movement's actions. As the conflict progressed, the violence escalated, with both sides causing a large number of civilian casualties. At the regional level, it was decided to intervene and the East African Community (EAC) deployed peacekeeping forces in the region, within the borders of the DRC, to try to stabilise the situation. 

Throughout 2024, the M23 intensified its military operations, capturing strategic areas in North Kivu, including the mining region of Rubaya, rich in coltan, something which the reader can understand is no coincidence. What underlies all the root causes of the conflict is the control of mining areas, especially those containing resources critical to the electronics industry. These developments increased tensions between the DRC and Rwanda, with mutual accusations of supporting rebel groups. The presence in the region of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Hutu rebel group operating in eastern DRC, is also a factor and is one of Kigali's main concerns, as it is linked to the 1994 genocide.

At the beginning of 2025, the M23 launched a strong offensive capturing Goma, the largest city in eastern DRC. This advance once again caused hundreds of victims and a humanitarian crisis, with hospitals overflowing and numerous displaced people. The international community's greatest fear is that this time the escalation will lead to a full-scale war between the DRC and Rwanda. 

The situation at the moment is uncertain, and the images of international peacekeeping forces surrendering to the rebels not only augur nothing new, but should make us think about the effectiveness of certain missions and the true involvement of the participating countries in helping to resolve the conflict. 

On the one hand we have the M23 and on the other the FDLR, each supposedly backed by Kigali and Kinshasa respectively. But neither can we forget the enormous interests at play along that border, where various armed groups take refuge in the ancestral ethnic rivalry and other excuses to give some justification to actions that only seek to control part of the exploitation of the lucrative natural resources. Similarly, the corruption that seriously affects both governments does nothing to help the search for options to stabilise the region, and the initiatives, always regional or with UN missions that we can clearly consider to be token or second-rate, have been shown time and time again to be totally ineffective if not to be another source of problems. 

All of this makes for a very dangerous cocktail in an area where there are still many unresolved issues that coexist with enormous economic interests, not only of both governments, but also of a good number of companies that are not based in the country or the region, or even on the same continent, and for whom a certain degree of instability comes in quite handy. 

What now seems to us to be just another chapter in the endless African wars could turn into a large-scale conflict that causes an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe with a global economic impact (which unfortunately seems to be the only thing that deserves our attention). And then we will be forced to intervene in a scenario that nobody wants to be part of. 

P.S. The author of this article had the opportunity in 2005 and 2006 to live with a Rwandan battalion for almost seven months as part of an African Union operation in Darfur.