After The Handshakes, The Congo "Great War" Goes On

After the Handshakes, Congo’s ‘Great War’ Goes On DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO/ RWANDA Rwanda-DRC On Dec. 4, US President Donald Trump hosted the leaders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda at the White House to sign a peace deal to end the long-running war in mineral-rich eastern Congo. Five days later, Rwandan troops and the Rwanda-backed March 23 Movement (M23) rebel forces launched a new offensive near Uvira in South Kivu in eastern Congo that pushed out Congolese and Burundian military forces and a coalition of allied militias, killed 74 people and displaced about 200,000 civilians. US officials were furious, threatening action. Even so, analysts say that in the two months since the agreement, known as the Washington Accords, the situation in the country has deteriorated: Rwanda and rebel groups continue to expand their territory in eastern Congo and terrorize civilians in their quest for the country’s mineral riches. “On paper, peace had returned to my region in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo,” wrote a Congolese journalist in the New Humanitarian, after traveling to Uvira soon after the peace deal was signed in Washington. “Presidents had shaken hands, cameras had flashed, and Donald Trump had declared another war resolved. Yet every kilometer of the road ahead told a different story. It carried the smell of gunpowder and death, and the signs of people who had fled in desperation. It showed how words spoken from above dissolve the moment they reach the ground.” Meanwhile, rebel spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka told Turkey’s Anadolu Agency that the militia is “liberating” the region, justifying it as a humanitarian mission. Fighting between Rwanda-backed rebel groups and Congolese government forces has displaced more than 2 million people in the mineral-rich region in the past year, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council. Rwanda has deployed 7,000 troops in the country, saying it is doing so to prevent the violence from spilling over into its territory but in reality to gain control over the country’s mineral riches. The DRC is the world’s largest producer of cobalt and tantalum, and the second-largest producer of copper. It also holds lithium, tin and gold. Reuters recently reported that American companies are now in talks with the DRC government over mineral mines even as copper begins to flow to the US. Fighting in the DRC has been ongoing between rebel groups, numbering more than 100, and the central government since 1998. Numerous countries, including Rwanda and Burundi, have participated at different times, leading the conflict to be called Africa’s World War or the Great War of Africa. More than 5 million people have died in the fighting, millions more displaced: The DRC now hosts about 7 million internally displaced people. Also, the rebels have perpetrated mass killings against ethnic communities, torture, and forced deportations, human rights groups say. Meanwhile, in the so-called “liberated” areas such as Goma where rebels rule, life is precarious. Residents try to go about life as normal, try to earn a living and feed their families but it’s difficult when banks and ATMs are closed and public services like schools are shuttered and businesses are on the verge of closing, say residents. In downtown Goma, the once-bustling banking district is now a ghost town. At the nearby Kituku Market, the city’s main trading center, crowds descend on market days but buy very little. Espérance Mushashire, 44, a mother of 12, has been selling vegetables for years and told the Associated Press that now, many customers only come to inquire about prices, and then leave. “We buy at high prices, but we hardly sell anything,” she said. “Customers have no money left. Our children don’t even go to school anymore.” Congolese government forces have had limited success against the rebels. They recently retook the town of Uvira, for example, after M23’s attack that left bodies on the streets and blown-up buildings. American and Qatari diplomats have tried end the fighting – there have been multiple peace deals in the past year between the DRC and Rwanda, and the DRC and the M23. The diplomats have blamed Rwanda for continuing to fuel the hostilities while M23 rebels and Rwandan technicians loot gold and other mineral mines to the tune of $70 million. At the same time, DRC-backed groups smuggle gold from mines they control to Uganda, before it goes to the United Arab Emirates to be laundered. Too many people are getting rich to have any interest in stopping the war, analysts say. “The peace process has produced the signing of three peace accords… but on the ground, the conflict is worsening,” wrote Foreign Policy magazine. “The M23 significantly expanded its territory in 2025, and the DRC government collaborates with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, the remnants of the Rwandan genocidaires from 1994, and deadly armed groups such as the Wazalendo. A continued kleptocratic system, escalating repression (in the DRC) and an inability or unwillingness to protect civilians all fall on the DRC government.” The problem is, the magazine added, that there have been no “costs” for Rwanda’s invasion or the DRC government’s backing of armed groups as they “pillage” eastern Congo. “That is a recipe for continued war,” it added. “The growing risk is that the peace process will, in fact, lay the groundwork for a de facto partition of Congo.”