Further Violence in North Kivu

Following the advances made by M23 in the province of North Kivu, the failed ceasefire agreed in Luanda had failed to achieve what it had hoped to. According to Will Ross at the BBC, 300 000 people had been displaced as a result of the violence in February alone according to the UN (Ross, 2023). Furthermore, Angola has now announced that it will be deploying troops to the eastern DRC to secure areas controlled by M23 and to enforce, protect and monitor the ceasefire. The arrival of Angolan troops should hopefully contribute to Kinshasa’s efforts of stabilising and defeating M23 in North Kivu.

The Humanitarian Crisis in Goma has become increasingly concerning to the point where the European Union has begun an operation to fly in aid as humanitarian agencies have become overwhelmed (Ross, 2023).

In addition, Reuters has reported that the village of Kirindera in North Kivu has also been attacked which saw the deaths of 19 people and the destruction of a medical facility. This attack had taken place just a few kilometres away from another attack on a neighbouring village which had killed 35 people the week before. This time, the culprits are blamed to have been the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan armed group.

The ADF, created in Uganda before moving to eastern Congo in the 1990s, is an armed group that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The group has been responsible for thousands of deaths in the last decade (Reuters, 2023). The violent activities of the ADF can only be argued to have contributed to the ongoing destabilisation and conflict in North Kivu.

Furthermore, it has been reported by Reuters that the efforts of the armed forces have been ineffective as the killings have continued (Reuters, 2023). In addition, with the army fighting M23 whose offensive has now been estimated to have displaced around 600 000 people in recent months. The humanitarian situation of North Kivu is concerning and so is the security and stability of the region as well as violence continues.

Should the international community step in more?

Bibliography

Ross, W., 2023. DR Congo's M23 ceasefire: Angola to deploy troops after failed truce. [Online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64927180 [Accessed 14 March 2023].

Reuters, 2023. Suspected Islamist militants kill 19 in another village raid in east Congo. [Online] Available at: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/suspected-islamist-militants-kill-19-another-village-raid-east-congo-2023-03-12/ [Accessed 14 March 2023].