Critical minerals factor into the fight.
Rwanda-backed rebels claimed on Monday they captured eastern Congo’s strategic city of Goma, the hub of a region containing trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that remains largely untapped.
Residents in eastern Congo’s largest city of Goma are fleeing after Rwanda-backed rebels claimed to have captured the regional hub from Congolese forces.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, condemned the serious violations of human rights, the attacks on displaced persons, and the increase in ethnic violence. Goma's hospitals are overwhelmed,
Advances being made by the M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo are "heightening the threat of a regional war," according to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwandan-backed rebels have overrun the city of Goma, sparking concerns at the U.N. of a wider regional war.
The Congolese government forces (FARDC), fighting alongside a coalition of other forces, recently intensified their battle against the March 23 Movement (M23) in the eastern DR Congo. In response, the M23,
Congressionally Chartered. Scholarship Driven. Fiercely Nonpartisan.
When M23 rebels swept into the Congolese city of Goma this week, world powers urged them to immediately withdraw. Instead, the Rwanda-backed insurgents are intent on showing they can restore order and govern.
Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has vowed “a vigorous and coordinated response” against a rebel alliance that has besieged swaths of the nation’s mineral-rich east and forced hundreds of local troops and foreign mercenaries to surrender.
President of the Democratic Republic of Congo said on Thursday that his troopers are fighting an insurgence by the Rwandan-backed militant group M23 which recently captured swaths of land in the east.