Rwanda Captures The Most Strategic Goma Region Containing Billions of Dollars Of Rare Earths From Congo

Here, Again Democratic Republic of the Congo For years, the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have set their sights on capturing Goma – the strategic hub of a region in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – that holds trillions of dollars of untapped mineral wealth. Then last week, in a lightning advance, they did it, with help from thousands of Rwandan soldiers, as resistance from the army, United Nations soldiers, and mercenaries melted away. Now, the rebels are eyeing the entire country even as they declared a ceasefire Tuesday for “humanitarian” reasons. “We want to go to Kinshasa, take power, and lead the country,” said Corneille Nangaa, a leader of the self-described “people’s army” of M23, who is a former Congolese election official in the DRC, and sanctioned by the US for “undermining democracy.” Offering the leaders of the Congo “a dialogue,” he said the group wants to bring “peace.” Congo’s defense minister, Guy Kabombo Muadiamvita, scoffed at the offer. “We will stay here in Congo and fight,” he said. “If we do not stay alive here, let’s stay dead here.” Once again, analysts say, the region is on the edge of a full-blown conflict, one that could engulf the DRC, Rwanda, Uganda, and possibly South Africa and Burundi. Still, they aren’t surprised. “The warning signs were always there, said Murithi Mutiga of the Crisis Group. “(Rwanda) was adopting very bellicose rhetoric and the Congolese government was also adopting very, very aggressive rhetoric.” The roots of the conflict date back to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, in which almost a million Tutsis and Hutu moderates were killed by Hutu extremists. Tutsi rebels, led by current Rwandan President Paul Kagame, stopped the killing and pushed the Hutu perpetrators across the border into the DRC. Now, Kagame says that he wants to protect ethnic Tutsis in Congo and protect his country from the other rebel groups in the DRC. More than 100 armed groups operate in the country, vying for control of the east which holds vast mineral deposits worth $24 trillion such as lithium, rare earth minerals, and others that are critical to the world’s tech gadgets. One group, known as the FDLR, whose members include alleged perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide, “is fully integrated into” the Congolese military, Kagame said, something the DRC denies. Still, Kagame has long denied supporting the M23 rebel group. However, the US, the UN, and others say it is actively involved, dreaming of creating a “Greater Rwanda.” The UN says Rwanda uses the group to extract Congo’s minerals. In August, a ceasefire – now moot – took effect between Congo and Rwanda to end a war that has killed 6 million, mainly through hunger and disease. However, Congo’s president, Felix Tshisekedi, has long rejected talks with M23 as Kagame has wanted. Instead, the Congolese are furious that the West hasn’t intervened. But Rwanda has outsized clout with the international community because it has long been seen as a model of democratic governance and economic management in the region, a reputation not necessarily deserved over the past few years. Meanwhile, regional heavyweight South Africa has been drawn into the fray. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last week blamed Rwanda for the deaths of 13 South African peacekeepers in eastern Congo. Kagame responded that those peacekeepers made up a “belligerent force.” “If South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with the matter in that context any day,” the Rwandan leader said. Caught in the middle, meanwhile, are millions of Congolese, tired from almost three decades of conflict, tired of being uprooted from their homes and pushed from one refugee camp to another, tired of the carnage. On the ground, the conditions in Goma are dire, say humanitarian officials. The city remains largely without food, electricity, and water after its capture by the rebels. More than 900 people were killed in last week’s takeover of Goma. Witnesses said bodies lay on the streets and UN officials reported gang rapes and executions. Goma has served as a center for more than 6 million people displaced by the ongoing conflict in the DRC. About 700,000 people have been displaced again by the new fighting, the UN said. Now, residents in the eastern city of Bukavu are terrified: The rebels are said to be advancing their way even as Goma’s residents try to cope. “We have nothing left to eat … my shop has been looted – I curse this war,” Adeline Tuma, who lives in Goma with her four children, told the Guardian. “A new, grim chapter of our lives begins.”