The Conflict in Eastern DR Congo and Impact on Regional Security

An overview of the genesis of the conflict:
The East of DR Congo suffers from internal conflict that has ultimately led to dangerous ethnic marginalization and discrimination with potential violent and massive killings against the Congolese Tutsi population.
In 1994 when the genocidal government of Rwanda was defeated by Rwanda Patriotic Front, the armed forces and Interahamwe militia that committed the genocide in Rwanda fled to Eastern DRC with their arsenal untouched and entire government logistics. The then Government of Zaïre never bothered to disarm the new comers armed with full state weaponry nor take a decision to abide by the international law to accommodate them far from Rwanda’s borders. The fighters, the militia that had killed more than a million Rwandan Tutsi in only three months, millions of the population taken as hostages by the killers, fled to DRC at few meters from Rwanda’s borders. From there they started launching deadly incursions into Rwanda to disturb the newly liberated country and continue their bloody actions, kill the survivors and terrorize the rest of the population.
Meanwhile, those who fled to Tanzania in the East part of Rwanda were disarmed by Tanzanian government and were taken far from Rwanda’s borders. There was no adverse impact from the Tanzanian side.
When in Eastern DRC, the Rwandan refugees with bloody hands exported their ethnic cleansing on the new territory in Congo.
Having the same community composition like Rwanda in 1994, the Eastern DRC has also Hutu and Tutsi. The Rwandan killers known as Interahamwe started to target the Congolese Tutsi calling them the siblings of the Rwandan Tutsi they had preyed on few months, weeks before. The idea was to empty the Eastern DRC of Tutsi community by killing and sending them to Rwanda, and ultimately occupy the victims’ lands and property. The survivors fled in thousands to Rwanda, Uganda and other countries of the region.

An ignored refugees’ fate, frustration and rebellion:
The Congolese refugees fled the Interahamwe and former Rwandan army killers in early 1996. Their fate and grievances have not been addressed by the international community. Frustration and continued silence of the United Nations have disappointed the refugees who have resorted to forming armed rebellion to claim forcefully their rights.

Successive governments of the DRC have not solved the problem of many refugees scattered in the Great Lakes Region and beyond. On the contrary, governments sought response for a wrong problem. Tutsi refugees were always being labelled as Banyarwanda, because of their facies and Kinyarwanda language. Therefore, for governments and extremist elements of the civil society mainly, contaminated by ideologues of genocide from Rwandan genocide perpetrators, the Congolese Tutsi refugees must stay in Rwanda as their country. Surprisingly, the hutu refugees are tolerated and allowed to stay on DR Congolese land.
The armed fronts that have advocated for the refugees cause have chronologically morphed into different acronyms: AFDL (Alliance des Forces Démocratiques Pour la Libération du Congo/The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo), CNDP (Conseil National pour la Défense du Peuple/National Congress for the Defence of the People) and M23 (Mouvement du 23 Mars 2012).
The big portion of soldiers of the M23 were pushed into Uganda in 2012 by MONUSCO’s Force Intervention Brigade (FIB), and another small number exiled in Rwanda. The peace accord between Government and the former CNDP was never honored by the government side, calling for further hostilities between the belligerents.
Ten years later, in late 2021, the war resumed. The M23 captured many localities in northern Kivu province starting from Bunagana. They have entered DRC from Uganda, and not from Rwanda as it has always been spread by Kinshasa propaganda. The DRC government wants to cover up its internal governance weaknesses by lying to the international community and buying the media and lobby houses to portray Rwanda as an aggressor and supporter of the M23. It is easy to label as Rwandans the M23 fighters because the founding fighters speak Kinyarwanda. Ill-advised international community becomes gullible to accept that M23 rebels are backed by Rwanda because of the linguistic similarity. Rwanda has made it clear that whatever is doing is protecting herself and her people from the attacks of the so-called Forces Democratiques pour la Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR). FDLR launches its attacks from the DRC and with support of DRC government and army (FARDC).
In many instances, external powers have traded objectivity against honest and truthful reality to have the favours of the Kinshasa government and access the DRC critical minerals in the areas controlled by the regime. The multi billion budget UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO has also taken side against the M23. MONUSCO is fighting alongside the DRC government forces. In the eyes of the AFC/M23, MONUSCO has lost all credibility; it is no longer a neutral force.
The M23 rebel group was joined by Congolese politicians who fell apart with Kinshasa regime or President Tshisekedi Tshilombo. Mr. Nangaa Yobeluo, former Chairman of the Congolese Election Committee, separated with Tshisekedi and formed Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) that became the fighting umbrella of the rebel groups in the Eastern DRC, namely M23 and MRDP Twirwaneho in south Kivu, a group of marginalized Tutsi Banyamulenge who have been facing extinction threats by local militias supported by Kinshasa government and now the Burundi armed forces Forces de Defense Nationale du Burundi (FDNB).

Tshisekedi wants war, refutes political solution:
DRC President Felix Tshisekedi has long denied that M23 is a real ground adversary, and insisted that he would talk to Rwanda, not to the AFC-M23. He maintains that AFC-M23 is a proxy of Rwanda. The more the Kinshasa regime presents to its population a wrong enemy, the more complicated becomes the efforts to bring the real warring sides to the table of negotiation.
However, when faced with a strong AFC-M23 military retaliation and further advances, Tshisekedi rushed to Qatar and to the US to request a mediation.
The current mediation move by US and Qatar were preceded by African quests for solution. The East African Community availed first the neutral force to ensure a ceasefire between M23 and the Congolese government coalition.
However, having failed to convince the East African Force to take side and fight the M23 rebels, President Tshisekedi unilaterally threw out the East African Community (EAC) force (EACRF) and called in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) force (SAMIDRC) made of South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi to fight the rebels. Ultimately, they failed to beat M23 but were driven out of Goma city by the rebels. The capture of Goma in late January 2025 revealed a sinister plot by the DRC coalition fighting alongside the SAMIDRC, the Rwandan genocidal force FDLR, the mercenaries and many Congolese militia groups to attack Rwanda. The world watched not without a guilty silence hundreds of European mercenaries being neutralized in Goma and repatriated to their country via Rwanda. The use of mercenaries is prohibited by the Geneva Convention and the African Union Charter:
The overall stature of Felix Tshisekedi has been marked by a dishonest position. He gives positive speeches during mediation meetings but on ground he promotes hostilities against the AFC/M23.
As a matter of fact, the DRC has openly declared that it would not observe any ceasefire and would instead continue fighting to recapture territories held by the AFC/M23, even as the peace process unfolded.

Many peace efforts, less results:
Since the fall of Goma in January 2025 and Bukavu in the following months, different processes were initiated by regional blocs, namely the East African Community and Southern African Development Community, as well as the international mediators namely the State of Qatar and the United States America, all aimed at finding a lasting solution to the crisis.
The Washington Process in the US culminated in the signing, on 4th December, 2025 of the historic Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity. The Peace Accords are considered to be the most comprehensive peace agreement to date. These Accords cover three key instruments: the Declaration of Principles of 25th April, 2025, the Peace Agreement of 27th June, 2025 and the Regional Economic Integration Framework signed on 4th December 2025.
In Doha, despite a difficult start, important progress was also achieved in the discussions between the Government of the DRC and the AFC/M23. A Declaration of Principles was signed on 19th July 2025, followed by the signing, on 15th November 2025 of the Doha Framework for a Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The Doha Framework Agreement includes eight protocols that would comprehensively address the root causes of the conflict in Eastern DRC.
Unfortunately, the relatively good spirit in Washington does not reflect the developments on the ground. Since the signing of the Peace Agreement in June, 2025, the situation on the ground in the DRC has been characterised by an increased militarization, hate speech, and the persecution of Congolese Tutsi. There has not been a single day — since the signing of the peace agreements, and even before — when positions of the AFC/M23 were not targeted by DRC fighter jets and attack drones.
In a blatant violation of many ceasefire agreements agreed on in both Washington and Doha, the Congolese forces went as far as targeting civilian facilities, such as factories. Even more worrying are the daily bombings of civilians, especially Banyamulenge villages in South Kivu.
The intervention of Burundian forces, numbering around 20,000, has been a destabilizing and aggravating factor in the crisis. There is a number of reports of arrests, targeted killings, artillery attacks in Minembwe locality and the blockade imposed on Tutsi Banyamulenge communities by Burundian forces, preventing civilians from accessing essential services such as markets, with the clear intent to starve them.
Under the label “invited forces” (by DRC Government), the Burundian troops are inflicting devastation on innocent Banyamulenge civilians.

Rwanda has always called for peace:
For Rwanda, the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity and the Doha Framework represent the most viable paths toward lasting peace, stability, and prosperity in the Great Lakes Region.
Hence, another additional agreement is considered unnecessary. Agreements that advocate for Congolese peaceful resolution of the conflict are many and enough. What is lacking is a political will and good faith from the DRC Government to implement the mentioned agreements.
Specifically on this matter, the President of Rwanda H. E Paul Kagame stated in Washington, that: “Rwanda will not be found wanting. We are ready to play our part and to uphold our commitments — provided all parties abide by theirs. Rwanda carries its own burden and will not accept to carry the burden of the DRC or Burundi. We therefore call on the international community to adopt a fair and constructive position that holds all parties accountable.”
Concerning tensions with Burundi, there are ongoing mediation efforts by the United States to de-escalate the situation which led to contacts between security organs of both countries. The U.S. mediation is working tirelessly with parties to the Washington Accords on a way out of the crisis around the city Uvira in South Kivu.
In all this, Rwanda has manifested its real and firm commitment to a sustainable peace in the region.

What is ahead?
As the world watches with much optimism the unfolding of the DR Congo crisis, the hate speech and targeted killings of the Congolese Tutsi by extremists supported by the Kinshasa regime rage on, unabatedly, under the feigning eye of the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC, MONUSCO.
The Rwandan genocidal force FDLR is embedded within the DRC army. They continue to fight, together with the Burundian forces, against the AFC/M23; the war seems for from ending as Tshisekedi vowed to never talk to his countrymen fighting his administration.
For Rwanda, as for any other country, peace and security are a prerequisite for her development. As long as the FDLR continues roaming the region with the support by its ideological twins to materialize their evil intent of destabilizing Rwanda, the latter will not remove its defensive measures to protect its people territorial integrity.