North Kivu: 800,000 Displaced in the Past Year Alone

Picture 1 EAC force soldiers in Goma, North Kivu (Agence France-Presse, 2023)

6 days ago, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that the attacks on civilians in North Kivu had displaced more than 100 000 people and dozens of lives were lost in the last week alone (OCHA, 2023). The violence perpetrated by the alleged Rwandan supported March 23 Movement (M23) and other armed groups such as by the Allied Democratic Front (ADF) is having a destabilizing impact on the region, especially within the Masisi territory,

Although the OCHA (and its partners) are providing support (health, education, food, water, and sanitation) to the people displaced by the violence, the response will need to be increased, which is already in the process of being done (OCHA, 2023). The OCHA has also stated that in the past year alone, more than 800 000 people have been displaced in North Kivu alone, this has brought the number of internally displaced people within the DRC up to more than 6 million (OCHA, 2023).

Picture 2: Masisi Territory, North Kivu (source: Google Maps)

Voanews released an article by Agence France-Presse last Wednesday (16th of March 2023), that as a result of the East African Community’s (EAC) regional force deploying to North Kivu, M23 had retreated from several villages in the Masisi territory, which is west of Goma (picture 2). However, it has been alleged that this is a false withdrawal (Agence France-Presse, 2023). Perhaps it could be theorised that M23 have decided to pull their forces back, recuperate and plan the next offensive once the EAC’s regional force has withdrawn or becomes entangled with helping the Congolese armed forces in the fight against another armed group.

Although the deployment of the East African Community’s military force to eastern Congo in November could potentially fulfil its objective of stabilising the region, as seen by the deployment of the EAC force’s Burundian contingent into the Masisi area in order to aid in order to oversee the withdrawal of M23. It has been stated that this has been successful as it has been said that the rebels had retreated from several villages in the territory (Agence France-Presse, 2023).

This could be a monumental stage in the fight against the most prominent of the rebel groups, M23, perhaps the Congolese armed forces could use this withdrawal as a moment to prepare for a future offensive and consolidate its forces. Kinshasa still has to deal with over 100 different groups that operate in the eastern region of the country (including the ADF) (Center for Preventive Action, 2023). In addition, the presence of UN Peacekeepers has not been as effective as hopped, as these armed groups still continue to terrorise communities, control weakly governed areas, and destabilize the region (Center for Preventive Action, 2023).

The question to be asked now is how will Kinshasa deal with the consequences of the violence in North Kivu? Will the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo be able to prepare for another M23 offensive in the future?

Bibliography

Agence France-Presse, 2023. Rebels Pull Back in Eastern DR Congo as Regional Force Deploys. [Online] Available at: https://www.voanews.com/a/rebels-pull-back-in-eastern-dr-congo-as-regional-force-deploys-/7008905.html [Accessed 21 March 2023].

Center for Preventive Action, 2023. Instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [Online] Available at: https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/violence-democratic-republic-congo [Accessed 21 March 2023].

OCHA, 2023. Today's top news: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Türkiye, Syria. [Online] Available at: https://www.unocha.org/story/todays-top-news-democratic-republic-congo-malawi-mozambique-türkiye-syria [Accessed 21 March 2023].