After Rwanda supported rebels confiscated the Goma Congolese in 2012, executive nations registered their disagreement around the world and announced sanctions against Rwanda and other measures that led to the defeat of the rebels a year later.
When these rebels fought to capture Goma on Sunday, several nations re -expressed their criticism, but still have to apply the level of pressure on Rwand, which eventually led the rebels to stand up more than ten years ago.
Since hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled from escalating violence in recent days, they were looking for a shrine in Goma, a group of rebels M23 M23 right behind. M23, claiming that the UN and others claim to be financed and armed with Rwanda, said Goma had captured early Monday.
Now, with the fate of the city in balance, analysts say that a conflict that could be tamed by a strong international pressure against Rwanda will instead get out of control. Rwanda has up to 4,000 soldiers in the Eastern Congo who supports Advance M23, UN experts say. The government of Paul Kagame, President Rwanda, seems to be intended to rewrite the Congo map by confiscation of land, and so far, in addition to the publication of remorse, the Western country has barely gathered an answer.
Mr. Kagame denied that Rwanda was armed with M23 or that his units were in the Congo Democratic Republic. He says that the M23 simply prevents the right of the Congo minority of Tutsis – his own ethnic group Mr. Kagame, which was the main goal of the 1994 genocide.
In the call with President Felix TshiseKedi from Congo on Monday, Foreign Minister Marco Rubio “condemned the attack on Goma from the Rwand M23 and confirmed the respect of the United States to the sovereignty of DRC”.
The United Kingdom and France previously condemned the presence of Rwanda in the Eastern Congo. Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General, Monday called For the first time, Rwandan troops withdraw from the Eastern Congo.
But Mr. Kagame’s small Central African nation has spent the last decade by strengthening his reputation among Western powers, which is too useful to sanction, some analysts say. The European Union signed strategic minerals last year with Rwanda, which caused accusations of groups of rights to support conflict.
Rwanda with a population of only 14 million people, is currently contributing The second highest number of UN peaceful forces. Starting in 2021, his troops defeated the jihadist uprising in the Mosambique area, where the French oil giant has a gas project of $ 20 billion. Rwanda also has displayed AND willingness If you want to take asylum seekers from Europe and offer to help solve the problem that has stimulated the far -right movements of this continent.
And for years, Western donors have been perceived as an example of a textbook on how to get the right help, help using economic growth and development while stylizing Singapore of Africa.
“Strong Western countries have long delayed the punishment of Rwanda, which cultivated the reputation of a donor pet,” said Dino Mahtani, a former UN peacekeeper in Congo. “While some are now finally demanding Kagame to withdraw support back to M23, they are unlikely to act against what they see as a military solution against jihadists in Mozambique.”
Congo, on the other hand, was regularly written off as hopeless caseand helpless In Africa wrapped in a series of wars, developing with corruption and suffering.
And suffering is stunning.
Sifa Kigugo held a small child and tried to keep her other children close and arrived at Goma on Sunday, just before taking over the insurgents, where to go. She was born only five days ago, but when her village broke out, she had to run.
Millions of Congoles, such as Mrs. Kigug, were forced to leave their homes, and last week several hundred thousand were moved only. The bombs fallen It is stored in the camps. Sexual violence, long used as a war weapon in Congo, has recently increased and reached Recording level Last year, after M23 began its last pressure.
“When does the international community cease to close their eyes to the tragedy of the Congolese tragedy and accept or tolerate systematic violations of international law and human rights?” he asked Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist who treated thousands of rape victims in Congo and won the Nobel Prize for 2018.
More than 21 million people in Congu-ASI one one-fifth of the population-they need help. However, humanitarian workers warn that the behavior of the new Trump Administration could dive deeper into the crisis. After the office, President Trump issued an executive order that directed a 90 -day freezing of almost all foreign aid, until the review. Last year 68.8 percent of all humanitarian aid In Congo came from the United States.
It’s also Rwanda The largest bilateral donorGiving a country more than $ 188 million in 2023. Now that the support has been suspended, the US may be in a weaker position to affect Rwanda.
In 2012, as a result of the first occupation of Gomy M23, President Barack Obama Mr. Kagame called and urged him to stop supporting rebels.
Recently Western nations took certain steps against M23: In 2023 the United States and the European Union stored Sanctions for several Rwandan and Congolese military commanders involved in the conflict and the United States suspended Military Aid Rwanda last year.
On Tuesday, the German Ministry of Development suspended interviews with Rwandan officials. However, many Congoles, including protesters in multiple cities this week, claim that the EU and the United States must do more to stop Mr. Kagame.
Rwanda’s exploitation of rare Congo minerals has been described in detail in several reports from the UN. Last year, the M23 seized the area around the Congolese city of Rubaya, which is rich in Coltan, ore used in mobile phones and computers.
UN experts said in December that at least 150 tonnes of coltan were illegally balanced to Rwanda and mixed with Rwandan production. Last month, Congo filed criminal complaints in France and Belgium against Apple’s subsidiaries and accused it of using conflicting minerals from Congo.
Analysts claim that M23 under the leadership of Rwanda has long been trying to occupy Congo, behavior that suggests that it plans to set up an administrative state, collect taxes and impose fines to the population. “It seems that this is a long game of territorial acquisition,” said Mr. Mahtani, a former UN Mission Counselor.
In the capital of Congo Kinshasa on Tuesday, the protesters against Rwanda attacked several foreign embassies and the UN building in the eruption of anger on the ally of Congo for not stopping the progress of M23. Protests also broke out in Bukava, a larger city in Goma south, which is assumed that some Congolese officers fled. Many inhabitants of Bukava are afraid that they are another goal of rebels.
Some observers see peace interviews organized by nations in the region, including Angola, as the best hope of ending violence. Minister Rubio said on Monday that the negotiations should restart as soon as possible. President William Ruto from Kenya said on Tuesday that Mr. Kagame and Mr. TshiseKedi agreed on Wednesday to participate in an emergency summit to resolve the situation.
While these discussions are looking, hundreds of thousands of frightened people who were covered in Goma have nowhere to go.
Even those who have the beds they slept on, said Maine King’ori, Regional Humanitarian Director of Care International, who described in the city of constant shooting. “They were just awake, waiting with their breath outstretched, wondering what to do next,” he said.
Elian Peltier The report contributed.
