M23 March 23 Movement
Since 2022, the March 23 movement (M23), supported by Rwanda, managed to occupy large parts of North Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The violence in eastern Congo escalated in January 2025. Near Goma in North Kivu, 13 peacekeepers were killed by M23 rebels, while Congo has broken off relations with Rwanda. The militias had taken control of the strategically important town of Minova and briefly seized the small town of Sake before being partially pushed back by Congolese soldiers. From positions on the surrounding hills, the rebels are firing heavy artillery. According to the UN, peacekeepers are patrolling with the Congolese army and assisting in securing the civilian population, which repeatedly finds itself caught in the crossfire. The attempt by the M23 rebels to capture the million-strong city of Goma, located on Lake Kivu, initially failed. Thirteen soldiers from international peacekeeping forces were killed during this attempt. The governments of South Africa, Malawi, and Uruguay announced the deaths of their soldiers on 25 January 2025. This prompted an emergency session of the UN Security Council in New York.
According to the United Nations, the conflict displaced more than 400,000 people in the region since the beginning of 2025. The displaced people are lacking food, water, and medical care. Many were fleeing to neighboring Rwanda out of fear that Goma might be captured.
The offensives by the M23 seem to follow a clear logic: they want to gain control over the region's natural resources. These include gold, cassiterite, coltan, cobalt, and diamonds. After initially capturing parts of the Rutshuru and Masisi regions, the rebels are now moving towards the Walikale area, which is known for its significant coltan production.
Coltan, short for columbite-tantalite, is a mineral that is strategically important for the clean energy transition. Coltan is a metallic ore that contains the elements niobium and tantalum. It is a dull black color. Tantalum from coltan is used to make tantalum capacitors, which are used in mobile phones, cameras, personal computers, and automotive electronics. Much of the global production of coltan comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo. US import sources (2019–22) for Tantalum ores and concentrates were: Australia, 54%; Congo (Kinshasa), 11%; Rwanda, 9%; Mozambique, 7%; and other, 19%. The Tantalum-Niobium International Study Center (TIC) has worked to promote better standards for coltan mining. The TIC has created a process called ITSCI to deliver conflict-free coltan from Africa to refineries.
In early August 2024, under Angola's mediation, a ceasefire agreement was signed between Rwanda and DR Congo. However, on October 20, the rebels resumed their offensive in the northwest of the country. In December 2024, peace talks between DR Congo and Rwanda under Angola's mediation failed. A meeting between Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame was canceled at the last minute.
For a time, M23 rebels occupied the city of Kalembe, about 90 kilometers north of Sake, but were later driven out by a counteroffensive from the Wazalendo militias and the "Nduma Defense of Congo Rénové" (NDC-R). DR Congo had accused NDC-R leader Guidon Shimiray Mwissa of war crimes and issued an arrest warrant, with the UN imposing sanctions. Then, he began fighting alongside the Congolese army.
Kalembe is located on an important transportation route that also provides access to key mining areas. "The Walikale area is very rich in natural resources," confirms Augustin Muhesi, a political science professor in North Kivu. "If the M23 wants to occupy this area, it is only to gain access to mining resources to finance their military operations." According to the United Nations, the M23 is already generating around $300,000 per month from taxes on coltan production in the Masisi and Rutshuru regions. In April 2024, the M23 surrounded the town of Sake, a traffic hub and last bastion before the provincial capital, Goma. The rebels also took control of the mining town of Rubaya, which holds large coltan deposits.
The Congolese government accuses the M23 of exporting production from the Rubaya mines to Rwanda. According to a local civil society organization, the M23 has already distributed materials to resume mining operations at these sites.
According to the latest UN report on the Democratic Republic of Congo, there are currently around 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan soldiers from the Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) on Congolese soil, supporting the M23 rebels, who number about 3,000 fighters. "The RDF has no longer been limited to supporting M23 operations in the Rutshuru, Masisi, and Nyiragongo regions but has now directly and decisively intervened," the UN experts wrote. This has allowed both groups—the M23 and the RDF—to quickly expand their territory to the shores of Lake Edward, the report said.
According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a non-governmental organization that tracks global conflicts, the M23 rebel movement has been involved in nearly 1,700 violent incidents since resuming its activities in November 2021, which have claimed the lives of 1,746 people.
The M23 was originally created in 2012 following a mutiny within the Congolese army by former rebels that had been integrated. It accused the Congolese government of failing to respect the 2013 Nairobi Declarations, which were signed after the end of the previous uprising. In addition, however, the M23 made other demands, such as the protection of the Tutsi community and the reform of the Congolese army. Supposedly defeated in 2013, the M23 took up arms again in 2021, and by 2022 had rapidly seized vast territories in the south-east of North Kivu province, with military support from the Rwandan army. The eastern province of North Kivu, which had long been volatile, experiencing increased insecurity from 2022, much of it following the resurgence of the Tutsi-led group M23. In March 2022, violence escalated in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) along the Rwandan and Ugandan border between the DRC armed forces (FARDC) and the March 23 Movement (M23), which in previous years was found to have received Rwandan support. UN reporting during the year indicated Rwanda was once again supporting M23.
In May 2022, the spectre of conflict returned. After its comeback in late 2021 following a yearslong virtual pause in its activities, M23, which is also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army, started to occupy swaths of territory in North Kivu, displacing thousands in the process. The DRC government, along with the US and some other Western nations, accused neighboring Rwanda of backing the group, but Kigali denies doing so. France's President Emmanuel Macron said that all sides in the conflict had "given clear support" to a cease-fire on 07 March 2023.
On 07 March 2023 the M23 rebels clashed with soldiers on two fronts in eastern DR Congo, despite the regional ceasefire deal due to take effect the same day. After several days of relative calm, fighting erupted in the flashpoint province of North Kivu, leaving several civilians dead and injured. The fighting continued with the rebels seizing new villages, despite the ceasefire brokered by Angola last week that was due to start at noon.
The March 23 Movement armed group, or M23, is a militant group operating in eastern DRC, made up of rebels who defected from the DRC’s armed forces. Named after the 23 March 2009 peace accords and defeated by the Congolese army in 2013, there are credible reports it is supported by the government of Rwanda. The M23 and some of its leaders, including Sultani Makenga, have been sanctioned by the United States and the United Nations for horrific attacks on civilians.
In late 2022 M23 fighters seized multiple towns and two major roads in the DRC’s North Kivu province. At least 20 civilians were killed, at least 50 were injured, and six peacekeepers from the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or MONUSCO, were injured. The offensive has displaced an estimated 475,000 people since October 20, with another 200,000 unable to leave occupied areas.
The United States strongly condemned the resumption of fighting by M23, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a written statement, “The resumption of hostilities since October 20 has caused significant human suffering, including deaths and injuries among civilians and significant numbers of newly displaced persons. The United States calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and respect for human rights and international humanitarian law.” The United States called for M23 “to withdraw from its positions, disarm, and rejoin the in preparation for disarmament, demobilization, and community reintegration offered by the Government of the DRC”.
At a Security Council briefing, Ambassador Robert Wood, U.S. Alternative Representative for Special Affairs, called on Rwanda to cease its support for the M23 and noted that MONUSCO remains critical to bringing peace to eastern DRC and the broader region. “It serves an important purpose …: protecting civilians, disrupting illicit networks, and helping stabilize governance and security institutions,” he said. Ambassador Wood emphasized achieving peace is “contingent upon a political process, political will, and political solutions.... Strengthening democratic institutions, bringing justice to victims, holding bad actors to account, respecting states’ territorial sovereignty and integrity, and prioritizing civilians will help bring peace to the Great Lakes. The people of the region deserve nothing less".
Violence caused by the Rwandan-supported M23 rebels had been increasing in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. By mid-2022 there were 4.5 million Congolese displaced within their own country and 864,000 abroad as refugees. Many humanitarian operations had also been disrupted by the fighting itself. Heavy shelling and constant, intense combat between the Congolese army and the rebels left convoys unable to access certain areas in Rutshuru. President Lourenco from Angola is attempted to mediate, but the M23 rebel movement said any ceasefire as announced in the Angolan capital, Luanda, on July 6, 2022, did not concern the M23. The M23 rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo said November 05, 2013 they were laying down their arms, after military forces drove them from their last remaining strongholds. The declaration followed a call from African leaders meeting in South Africa for an end to the fighting. In a statement, M23 President Bertrand Bisimwa requested rebel commanders prepare fighters for “disarmament, demobilization and social reintegration.” Bisimwa said the group would pursue its goals through political means. Also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army, the group formed in early 2012. Named for March 23, the date of a 2009 peace deal, M23 included fighters once loyal to a rebel army who assimilated into the DRC army, then defected. Dominated by the Tutsi ethnic group, UN experts said the group was backed by Rwanda, which Rwanda denied.
Ethnic Tutsi M23 fighters were once loyal to the CNDP [National Congress for the Defense of the People], the rebel army that assimilated into the national army of Congo in a 2009 peace deal. M23 is comprised of former soldiers believed to be loyal to Bosco Ntaganda, a warlord wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes. The soldiers had been integrated into Congo's army, but left earlier this year after complaining of their treatment, amid threats by Congolese President Joseph Kabila to arrest Ntaganda.
Hundreds of former rebel army members mutinied, complaining that the government had not fulfilled promises of better pay and weapons. From the mutineers, the M23 - named for the March 23, 2009 peace deal - emerged. A UN report said there are indications the rebels are getting outside aid. U.N. experts say Rwanda and Uganda are backing M23. Both countries deny this. The UN Security Council is considering sanctions on M23 leaders and has demanded an end to "all outside support" of the group. A driving force behind the regional conflict are deposits of tin, gold, tungsten, and coltan, a mineral used in laptops and mobile phones in eastern Congo, where M23 operates.
While “considerable” progress had been made in combating the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, in early 2012 a mutiny led by officers in the Congolese army had caused a serious deterioration of security in North and South Kivu provinces, and an easing of pressure on other armed groups operating in the region. The mutiny had been initiated by soldiers integrated into the Congolese army — the Forces d’armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC) — under agreements reached in 2009. Those soldiers were led by Bosco Ntaganda and Sultani Makenga. They had asserted that the terms of those agreements central to their interests had not been implemented.
The effective” response by the Congolese Government had substantially reduced numbers available for the mutiny and the parallel “M23” movement launched by Mr. Makenga. MONUSCO had been working closely with the Government and the FARDC since the start of those events in early April 2012 to limit civilian injury, provide aid, contain the conflict area, and restore order as quickly and effectively as possible. As a result, mutinous forces had been driven out of their base areas to an area near the town of Bunagana, close to the Ugandan and Rwandan borders.
Rwandan elements — estimated at 200 to 300 men — continued to fight within the ranks of the “M23” rebels. They had been recruited, trained and deployed from Rwanda. As was often the case, the upcoming conclusion of the MONUSCO mandate coincided with violence in the east of the country. With his arrest looming, Mr. Ntaganda — head of the “National Congress for the Defence of the People” militia group — had defected and launched a mutiny in a part of the country that was already largely destabilized. That had caused massive civilian displacement into neighboring States. Congolese army operations had drastically diminished the success of armed groups, although those groups continued to pose a major threat in some parts of the country. Work was under way to bolster the Government’s resources to protect its population and gradually assume MONUSCO responsibilities.
On 13 July 2012 the Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a new warrant of arrest for Bosco Ntaganda, following the request submitted on 14 May 2012 by the ICC Prosecutor. Mr Ntaganda, approximately 41 years old, is suspected of committing war crimes and/or crimes against humanity, from 1 September 2002 to the end of September 2003, in the context of the conflict in the Kivus, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Basing its decision on the evidence presented by the Prosecutor, Pre-Trial Chamber II considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Bosco Ntaganda is responsible for three counts of crimes against humanity, consisting in murder, rape and sexual slavery, and persecution. In accordance with the warrant of arrest, Bosco Ntaganda allegedly bears individual criminal responsibility for four counts of war crimes consisting of murder, attacks against the civilian population, rape and sexual slavery, and pillaging. The Chamber considered that the arrest of Bosco Ntaganda is necessary to ensure that he will appear before the judges and that he will not obstruct the investigation, as well as to prevent him from continuing with the commission of a crime within the ICC’s jurisdiction.
On September 11th, 2012 Human Rights Watch accuseed the March 23 Movement of rapes, killings, torture, abductions and recruiting children to work as soldiers. The report said M23 is leaving behind a “horrific trail of atrocities” in eastern Congo. Human Rights Watch said M23 has executed 33 of its own fighters for trying to desert. The rights group reports that 15 civilians have been killed in rebel territories since June 2012. M23 spokesman Vianney Kazarama strongly rejected the accusations. “Frankly, it is a false information, a false report. We reject this entire report. We invited Human Rights Watch to investigate these allegations. They never accepted it,” he said. “We consider HRW on Kinshasa's side.”
Uganda denounced a leaked United Nations report that said both Uganda and Rwanda are supporting rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo — a charge both countries have denied. Reuters news agency obtained a copy of the 44-page report prepared by the Group of Experts, a U.N. Security Council committee in October 2012. According to Reuters, the report says Congo's M23 rebels are commanded by Rwanda's Minister of Defense James Kabarebe, and that both the Ugandan and Rwandan armies supported M23 in a series of July 2012 attacks to take over towns in Congo's Rutshuru territory. Uganda's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday the charges are “fabricated.” It said by leaking the report, which was supposed to be confidential, the Group of Experts are attempting to cause “mischief” and undermine regional efforts to end the DRC conflict.
United Nations helicopters launched an aerial attack on M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo in October 2012, after fresh fighting broke an uneasy truce between the rebels and Congolese soldiers. The United Nations and local officials in eastern DRC say U.N. aircraft fired on M23 forces after they gained ground against troops in the town of Kibumba, driving the Congolese forces to the outskirts of town.
On 19 November 2012 the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Information Minister called on the international community to impose sanctions on Rwanda, following the latest fighting with the M23 rebel group. “To stop this aggression, you have to stop the hands of the aggressors,” said Information Minister Lambert Mende. “They must stop Rwanda, and the only way of stopping Rwanda is sanctions against Rwanda.” There was diplomatic tension between Kinshasa and Rwanda following accusations that the Kigali government has been supporting rebels fighting the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) in north Kivu province. But, Rwanda has rejected accusations that it is supporting rebels, including the M23 group. “The government will never negotiate with terrorists,” continued Mende, “If there is a question of negotiating, [we will] negotiate with Rwanda instead of negotiating with the puppets of Rwanda.”
By mid-2013 M23 enjoyed continued, but had limited support from Rwanda. In particular, General Sultani Makenga, the military commander of M23, had been able to recruit demobilized Rwandan soldiers. But there was no evidence of full Rwandan army units supporting M23 since November 2012, when the rebels briefly occupied Goma. There were no current signs of Ugandan government support for the rebels, whereas in 2012 there was some Ugandan help for the movement. The Ugandan government denied those allegations.
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