Decoding The DRC Crisis: The M23 Rebellion And Its Historical Roots

By Claude Kabemba

This week, the town of Goma in the Eastern DRC was captured by the rebel group M23, fully supported by Rwanda.

The speed and the ease with which they captured Goma protected by the DRC armed forces and its allies was quite extraordinary. It reflects a certain malaise in both the political and military establishment in the DRC. What is this war all about, who are the players and how to completely root out the possibility of another war? 

First, it is important to make it clear that the cataclysmic life of the post-independence DRC is a legacy of colonialism.

The DRC has never been stable since the eve of its independence in 1960. The departing colonialists established that the DRC was potentially one of the richest countries on earth and they decided never to allow the abundant resources to be controlled by Africans.

For this reason, the West has always conditioned who becomes the president of the DRC and how and when he leaves power. For example, Sese Seko Mobutu was put in power through a coup d'État orchestrated by the West to protect their economic interests. Mobutu gave everything to the West in exchange for political power. He was kept in power for 32 years. When his usefulness ended, he was replaced by Laurent Kabila brought into power in 1996 by Rwanda and Uganda supported by Western powers. 

Rwanda entered the DRC to pursue the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) that carried out the genocide, and which was allowed to find refuge in the DRC by the international community. Quickly, this intervention changed into a movement for regime change. Rwanda and Uganda supported Laurent Kabila and his Alliances of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL) to overthrow Mobutu.

The AFDL received financial and military support from Western mining corporations. In return, Kabila was to compensate them with mining concessions once in power.  This was the beginning of the war that we are experiencing today. Since 1996, Rwanda and Uganda have never left the DRC.  Rwanda's argument for being in the DRC has always been that if the FDLR are still in the DRC, it reserves the right to intervene in the DRC for its security.  Rwanda has refused to find a negotiated solution with the FDLR. 

President Laurent Kabila was a nationalist who opposed Mobutu all his life. When he took power, he started to reclaim the control of the DRC's internal affairs and natural resources away from the West, including Rwanda and Uganda who brought him into power. This was not acceptable; he needed to be replaced.

In 1998, a new rebel group—the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) supported by Rwanda and Uganda was born—to overthrow Kabila.  Kabila was saved by a SADC intervention constituted by Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola. Kabila was assassinated in 2001 in circumstances which remain obscure. Laurent Kabila was replaced by his 29-year son, Joseph Kabila.  Kabila Jr will go on to negotiate a new Constitution and a transitional arrangement at the Sun City talks from 2001 to 2003.  He organised the first democratic multiparty elections in 2006 after a three-year transition when he shared power with all the former rebel groups and non-armed oppositions. Kabila won the elections beating his key rival, Jean Pierre Bemba who was a leader of Rally for Democracy, a rebel group backed by Uganda.  Kabila will go on and organise two other democratic elections in 2011 and 2018. The 2018 elections brought President Tshisekedi to power. It was the first time in the history of the DRC that a peaceful transfer of power was experienced.  

The M23 was born in 2012. It replaced another rebel movement, the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), against Joseph Kabila. CNDP accused Kabila of bad governance, poor conditions in the army and the government's unwillingness to implement the 23 March 2009 peace deal. Ironically, the M23 was constituted mostly by CNDP members.  The CNDP was backed by Rwanda. M23 is the CNDP by another name. The M23 was quickly defeated in 2013 by the DRC armed forces supported by SADC armies from South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania. The M23 soldiers went to Uganda and Rwanda. It is this group which has regrouped to start a new rebellion which has just captured Goma. This time, it has come back well-organised and armed with the support of Rwanda. M23 is primarily an ethnically Tutsi rebel group with ties to the Rwandan and Ugandan governments. 

In the east of the DRC, beside the M23, there are over one hundred non-state armed groups active, including the FDRL which makes the situation more complex.  These groups can be used and activated by anyone with resources to destabilise the region. All these armed groups and their backers can only sustain their military presence in the DRC by accessing the abundant mineral resources that the East of the country has. The DRC army generals have also been accused of partaking in the mineral illegal trade.  Without access to these resources, it will not be possible for any armed group, including Rwanda and Uganda to continue with military interventions in the DRC. In the east of the DRC, war is business. There will not be peace in the DRC if these resources are not brought under the control of the state. 

The new M23 rebellion has a new dimension. It has been joined by a politico-military group called Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC). AFC is led by Mr. Corneille Nanga. Nanga has an interesting story. He was the President of the DRC Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). He presided over the elections that brought Felix Tshisekedi to power. However, he is on record that President Tshisekedi's presidency was not won at the ballot, it was a political agreement struck between former president Kabila and Tshisekedi. This deal, according to Nanga, was made in the Presence of three African Presidents.  Nanga has accepted his responsibility in the deal that brought Tshisekedi to power.

To amend himself, he has taken up arms to oust President Tshisekedi whom he accuses of being autocratic and corrupt. President Tshisekedi has accused Nanga of being a puppet of Rwanda.

During the last election campaign, President Tshisekedi vowed to take the war to Rwanda and remove President Kagame from power. 

It is possible to interpret the full support that Rwanda is giving to the M23 and AFC as a reaction to President Tshisekedi’s threats of regime change in Rwanda. 

The AFC and M23 captured Goma against a Congolese army supported by the Burundi armed forces, the FDLR, the SADC military coalition represented by South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi, Western mercenaries and the Wazalendo (a group of irregular fighters in North Kivu province made up of rebel groups).

The capture of Goma is a manifestation of the prowess of the Rwandan army.  Without Rwanda, it would have been impossible for the M23 to capture Goma. 

President Tshisekedi is in his second and final term of office according to the DRC constitution. However, he has proposed that the constitution be amended.  He has been accused of wanting to prolong his stay in power by amending the Constitution.

The people against his idea argue that the country has pressing issues to deal with including the M23 rebellion, poverty, corruption, lack of water, and dilapidated infrastructure.  It is clear there are internal problems that are fuelling the conflict. These problems are giving M23 and AFC some level of credibility inside the DRC.  

The war in the East of the DRC is a combination of internal and external, recent and remote causes taking their roots from the colonial period. The long-term solution to the DRC crisis must be holistic looking at all possible causes and finding solutions to each one of them.

However, one key solution that cannot be ignored is to build a capable state supported by an entrenched, and transparent electoral democratic process. A capable state that protects its citizens and territory through a well-organised, trained and equipped army is the solution to the repeated instability in the East. 

This must be supported by the decolonisation of Congolese politics. In the short and medium term, the conflict must stop. President Kagame and Tshisekedi must be persuaded to resume talks under the AU auspices led by President João Lourenço of Angola.

Both SADC and EAC have committed themselves to play any role as facilitators of the talks. For the negotiations to bear fruit, the M23 and AFC must be included. President Tshisekedi’s position that he would never talk to the M23 is any longer sustainable considering the balance of forces on the battlefield. Without the M23 at the negotiation table, the war will continue.

* Claude Kabemba is the Executive Director of Southern Africa Resource Watch. 

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.