PREVIEW
Rebel fighters have taken control of a strategic town in the east of the country, adding to the armed group’s recent advances in the region
Masisi town, the administrative capital of the Masisi territory in North Kivu, has become the latest to be taken by the Rwandan-backed M23 militia group, whose recent incursion will increase concerns that the provincial capital Goma, which lies around 80 kilometres south, could soon be a target.
After a lull in fighting following the capture of Rubaya and other territories in April, agencies reported the fall of Masisi on 4 January, days after nearby Katale was reported to have been taken by M23. Peace talks between Congo-Kinshasa and Rwanda, mediated by Angola, collapsed in December (Dispatches 17/12/24, Dispute on M23’s status derails latest peace talks).
M23’s steady incursions will also have a major impact on the pillage of minerals in eastern Congo-K, which are then sold on by Rwanda (AC Vol 65 No 15, Kinshasa urges sanctions on Kigali citing damning UN report).
Weeks after the nearby town of Rubaya fell to the M23 on 30 April, a United Nations report found that ‘at least a portion of Rubaya’s minerals were then smuggled through the Rwandan border’, noting too that Rwanda’s coltan exports in 2023 were 50% higher than in 2022.
Years of fighting between M23 and the Forces armées de la République démocratique du Congo (FARDC) have resulted in tens of thousands of people living in makeshift camps close to Goma, which already holds a population of close to two million.
Mining of coltan and other metals has continued unabated, despite the conflict, with the evidence suggesting that the bulk of the resulting output is being smuggled into Rwanda, though this is denied by Kigali.
In December, Congo-K announced it was suing Apple’s subsidiaries in France and Belgium, accusing them of using ‘blood minerals’ taken by Rwanda and sold on. Kinshasa has made similar accusations against the European Union, which struck a minerals access agreement with Rwanda in early 2024, a move described as a ‘provocation’ by Congo-K President Félix Tshisekedi (AC Vol 65 No 6, How Brussels was caught out by the Kivu war).
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