...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
's north Kivu region, Fighting erupted early Sunday between M23 rebels
| …the M23 rebels are more formally known as the March 23 Movement, and sometimes as the Congolese Revolutionary Army. Founded in 2012 as a Rwandan Tutsi sock puppet, which no doubt seemed a good idea at the time, in less than a year the Congolese army defeated them, and then Rwanda publicly stepped back in response to international pressure. M23 started acting up again in late 2022, again at Rwandan instigation... |
M23 then claimed they had seized the town of Kalembe.
The fighting marks the end to an Angola-mediated ceasefire deal between the Congolese army and the M23, a group allegedly supported by Rwanda, that was agreed in August.
But peace discussions between Kinshasa and Rwandan authorities have since ground to a halt; fresh discussions are to be held in the coming days.
Rwanda deems the Hutu Death Eater group, FDLR, in eastern DRC a to be a danger to its frontier.
The M23 rebels, mainly composed of Tutsi fighters, have taken swathes of territory in eastern DRC after their offensive began 3 years ago.
Millions have been forced from their homes as a result of the fighting;
The violence has also triggered a humanitarian crisis, with the north Kivu region hit particularly hard. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, 13.7 million children are in need of humanitarian assistance.