Rwanda Backed M23 Controls Threatens to Expand Offensive

March 29, 2025

(3 Minutes Read)

The U.N. special representative for Congo also cited the dire situation of tens of thousands of Congolese fleeing the M23 offensive, and massive human rights violations against civilians from more than 100 summary executions to rapes and forced recruitment of children.

Rwandan-backed rebels now control large parts of eastern Congo and threaten to expand their offensive west into two neighboring provinces, the top U.N. official in the conflict-torn country said Thursday.

In a briefing to the U.N. Security Council on what she called “the alarming situation” in Congo, Bintou Keita pointed to the M23 rebels’ installation of an administration in South Kivu, and “a mining delegate” in North Kivu – another link between decades-old conflicts in eastern Congo and the illegal exploitation of its mineral riches.

Despite regional and international efforts, including a recent agreement between the presidents of Congo and Rwanda in Qatar, Keita said the immediate and unconditional ceasefire they called for has not taken place.

She called for the swift appointment of an African Union mediator to spearhead ceasefire efforts. Keita told the council that M23 controls large parts of North Kivu and South Kivu “and threatens to expand into Tshopo and Maniema provinces,” which are larger and across the Kivus’ western borders.

M23 and its allies have vowed to march as far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) to the east, and moving into Tshopo and Maniema would be a first major step.

Rwanda’s current president, Paul Kagame, a Tutsi and former opposition military commander, is widely credited with stopping the genocide, which killed more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus who tried to protect them.