The flaring conflict in eastern Congo | Explained

Renewed clashes in eastern DRC between the Congolese army and M23 rebels have escalated, sparking global alarm and humanitarian crisis.

The story so far: Renewed clashes in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have triggered global alarm and exacerbated the already dire humanitarian crisis in the region.

Over the past few weeks, many have died and hundreds of thousands displaced after the fighting between the Congolese army and Rwandan-backed M23 group escalated around the town of Sake near Goma — the capital city of the mineral-rich North Kivu province. On March 6, rebels reportedly seized the town of Nyanzale near Goma, following attacks that killed at least 10 and displaced many.

The growing tensions between Congo and Rwanda, which has been accused of supporting the rebels, have not only increased the risk of an all-out conflict but also pose a threat to food security for millions. The United States has appealed to both countries to “step back from the brink of war” while asking Rwanda to immediately withdraw its defence personnel from the DRC and remove its surface-to-air missile systems. The United Nations and several Western countries have also denounced the attacks and called on the M23 rebels to cease their offensive.

Notably, the spike in hostilities in a decades-long war comes as the United Nations begins the gradual withdrawal of its peacekeepers from the eastern South Kivu province as per a predetermined disengagement plan, and after recent devastating floods left more than two million people in need of humanitarian aid.

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An unending cycle of violence has engulfed the eastern region of the central African country for decades, with the conflict originating in two civil wars in the 1990s. In 1994, an estimated eight lakh minority ethnic Tutsis and Hutu moderates were killed by extremist Hutus in 100 days, in what is now known as the Rwandan genocide. At the time, Hutus made up roughly 85% of Rwanda’s population.

In the subsequent days, around two million people crossed the Congolese border (then known as Zaire) to settle in refugee camps in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu as a Tutsi government gained control of Rwanda. Former Rwandan government soldiers who had participated in the genocide used these camps to re-arm themselves to take back power. A small subset of these refugees included Hutu extremists who organised militias within Congo.