What's In Blue

Posted Tue 28 Jan 2025
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Democratic Republic of the Congo: Briefing

This afternoon (28 January), the Security Council will meet for its second urgent meeting this week on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Algeria, January’s Council president, convened the meeting after the DRC’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and La Francophonie, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, sent a letter to the Council on 27 January (S/2025/59) requesting an urgent meeting of the Security Council to discuss the rapidly deteriorating security situation in and around Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu province in eastern DRC. Deputy Special Representative for Protection and Operations in the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) Vivian van de Perre is expected to brief. At the time of writing, the DRC, represented by Wagner, as well as Rwanda and Uruguay, are expected to participate under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure.

Yesterday (27 January), the Mouvement du 23 Mars (M23) rebel group announced that its forces would occupy Goma following the expiry of its 25 January ultimatum to members of the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) to surrender their weapons and military equipment to MONUSCO. Since then, media outlets recorded M23 forces marching into the city and the group has apparently declared that it has captured Goma. However, in a press briefing yesterday, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, and MONUSCO Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator Bruno Lemarquis noted that fighting was ongoing in various parts of the city and the situation remained volatile. Today (28 January), the M23 has apparently consolidated its control of Goma, which reportedly triggered violent protests in the capital, Kinshasa. The protests led to attacks on several embassies—including of Belgium, France, Kenya, Rwanda, the US, and Uganda—as well as the ransacking of private properties.

At yesterday’s press briefing, Lemarquis described the worsening humanitarian situation in Goma and warned that civilians are facing grave danger due to the escalation of fighting. The city hosts a large number of internally displaced people (IDPs), many of whom are now being forced to flee. Basic services have been disrupted, further exacerbating the already dire humanitarian crisis in the area. Goma’s airport has been shut down, and the border crossings between the DRC and Rwanda are also closed. In this context, Lemarquis called on all parties to “agree on temporary humanitarian pauses in the most affected areas and establish humanitarian corridors to ensure humanitarian activities resume at scale, and most importantly, to facilitate the safe evacuation of wounded individuals and civilians trapped in combat zones”. He also urged the reopening of the Goma airport and the border crossings between the DRC and Rwanda to allow those fleeing the violence to seek refuge. This afternoon, Van de Perre is likely to brief Council members about the relief efforts carried out by the UN and its partners under these extremely difficult circumstances. On 26 January, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher allocated $17 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to support these operations.

Van de Perre may provide an update on MONUSCO’s situation in light of the evolving security conditions on the ground. MONUSCO’s troop-contributing countries, some of which are Council members, remain gravely concerned about the safety and security of the mission’s peacekeepers. According to Lemarquis, MONUSCO has been evacuating non-essential staff, who are being relocated to Kinshasa and Entebbe, Uganda. So far, three MONUSCO peacekeepers—from Malawi, South Africa, and Uruguay—have lost their lives, and 12 other peacekeepers have sustained injuries. MONUSCO peacekeepers are currently stationed in their barracks. Lacroix emphasised at yesterday’s press briefing that MONUSCO peacekeepers are doing their utmost to fulfil their responsibilities to protect civilians and disarm combatants in accordance with international humanitarian law. Many people fleeing the fighting are sheltering inside the MONUSCO bases in Goma and its surroundings. Some FARDC soldiers also laid down their weapons and are going through the disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration process with MONUSCO’s support.

On 26 January, the Security Council held an emergency meeting on the situation in the DRC, as the fall of Goma to M23 appeared imminent. (For more information, see our 25 January What’s In Blue story.) During the consultations held after the open briefing, there was apparently a tense exchange among Council members over a draft press statement proposed by France (the penholder on the DRC) which had been under negotiations over the previous two weeks. The draft text went through several revisions to achieve the necessary consensus among Council members.

The press statement eventually agreed by members condemned the ongoing military offensive by the M23 and demanded that the group immediately stop its military advances towards Goma and reverse its territorial expansion. It also condemned the violation of the DRC’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, including the unauthorised presence of external forces in eastern DRC, and demanded the immediate withdrawal of these forces. The “A3 plus” grouping (Algeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Guyana) were not supportive of explicitly naming Rwanda, which has been implicated in the ongoing conflict. In an apparent compromise, the statement referenced the recent mid-term report of the Group of Experts assisting the 1533 DRC Sanctions Committee, which provided evidence of Kigali’s involvement.

Wagner’s 27 January letter to the Council expressed disappointment with Security Council members for issuing a vague and indecisive statement. She urged the Security Council to demand that Rwanda withdraw its troops from Congolese territory and to impose targeted measures against the country, including an assets freeze, travel ban, embargo on exports of minerals labelled as Rwandan, the immediate revocation of its status as a troop contributor to UN peacekeeping missions, and the establishment of a systematic notification regime for all sales and transfers of arms to the country. The DRC was also disappointed by the 25 January statement of the African Union (AU) for its lack of clear condemnation of Rwanda and its reference to the M23 as a “political-military opposition” since Kinshasa considers the group a terrorist organisation. Additionally, the DRC apparently rejected Türkiye’s offer to mediate between the DRC and Rwanda, extended during Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s visit to Ankara last week.

In a 26 January statement, Rwanda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs blamed the FARDC and its allies for the escalation of fighting in Goma and its surrounding areas. Rwanda has also been tacitly critical of Angola, the facilitator of a regional mediation initiative known as the Luanda process, whose most recent statement strongly condemned the “irresponsible actions of the M23 and its supporters, who endanger all efforts and progress achieved in the Luanda process”. In its 26 January statement, Rwanda emphasised that “the Luanda process must not be personalized or seen as an end in itself, but as a tool to resolve security concerns between Rwanda and the DRC”. It also called for the reinvigoration of both the Luanda process and the Nairobi process, another regional mediation initiative under the auspices of the East African Community (EAC), which aims to promote dialogue between the DRC and various armed groups operating in eastern DRC, including the M23. Angola informed the Security Council in a 27 January letter that it had coordinated with the DRC and Rwanda to withdraw 26 members of the verification mechanisms deployed in Goma under the Luanda process due to the worsening security situation.

The situation in Goma and its surrounding areas has sparked a flurry of diplomatic activity, with leaders from across the continent and beyond reaching out to both the DRC and Rwanda with the aim of de-escalating tensions and promoting peace through dialogue. These include the current chair of the EAC, Kenyan President William Ruto, who spoke with DRC President Félix Tshisekedi and Kagame, expressing his intention to convene an extraordinary EAC summit within 48 hours. The meeting is expected to take place tomorrow (29 January), although media reports have indicated that Tshisekedi may not attend. He also did not participate in the last EAC ordinary summit on 30 November 2024, which, among other things, emphasised the need to merge the Luanda and Nairobi processes to consolidate various regional initiatives. Additionally, at the DRC’s request, the AU Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) met in an emergency ministerial session today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss the evolving situation in eastern DRC.

While awaiting the outcome of these meetings, Council members may call this afternoon for an immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities to stop the ongoing fighting in and around Goma. They might also urge the parties to allow humanitarian access to be delivered to affected populations, including by reopening the Goma airport and other transport corridors. Council members support the reinvigoration of regional initiatives and have already called in their press statement for the resumption of consultations under the Nairobi process. Today, they may also call for the convening of the tripartite summit by Angola to facilitate direct talks between the leaders of the DRC and Rwanda, which was postponed in December 2024.

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