War in Eastern Congo : Uganda accused of supporting M23 rebels

A report by United Nations experts, published on July 8, 2024, confirms Uganda’s support for M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This document, produced by experts mandated by the UN Security Council, details Uganda’s active role in the conflict opposing loyalist forces from the DRC to the M23 armed group. The Congolese government says it will favor diplomatic channels to discuss this issue with its neighbor. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

For two years, United Nations reports had so far only accused Rwanda of supporting the M23, which the Rwandan government describes as “lies”. This time, Uganda is also blamed. The report explains how Ugandan officials allowed M23 and Rwandan army troops to transit freely through the country, a presence that Ugandan intelligence services could not have ignored, according to investigators.

The latter claim that M23 officials, such as its military leader Sultani Makenga and Corneille Nangaa, head of the Congo River Alliance to which the rebellion is affiliated, have been seen several times this year in Entebbe and Kampala respectively the former and current capital of Uganda
where they even held meetings with representatives of Congolese armed groups.

Questioned on this subject, several civil society actors claimed to have witnessed several times the passage of M23 recruits through the territories of Rutshuru and Masisi, and even part of Nyiragongo in the province of North Kivu, crossing the border between the DRC and Uganda to “receive military training in certain cities of this neighboring country of the DRC”.

“It is unacceptable that our country can conclude agreements with a country that is attacking us. More than 6,000 young people recruited by the M23 in Masisi and Rutshuru are being trained militarily in Kampala and will be sent shortly to the front to fight alongside the M23”, accuses a representative of the civil society in Rutshuru.

Congolese and Ugandan armies have joined forces since November 2021 to dislodge the ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) militia, an armed group of Ugandan origin on the American government’s list of terrorist movements. Their joint operations enabled the return of displaced people to certain areas of the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, the release of hostages including several women from countries in the sub-region and the recovery of former strongholds of this militia in particular. The civil society demands the withdrawal of the Ugandan military despite this record.

“We ask the Congolese government to immediately break the agreements with Uganda and then to withdraw its troops on the Congolese soil otherwise our country is collapsing,” added a civil society official in North Kivu who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Reaction from the Congolese government

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, the Congolese minister in charge of foreign affairs, addressed this matter during a press briefing in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC on Monday July 8, 2024.

“We have been carrying out Operation Shuuja for more than a year with the Ugandan armed forces. So we collaborate on many subjects, we also collaborate on infrastructure issues in the Beni and Kasindi areas,” she declared.

And she continued, “But obviously we are concerned by this report and sources from our own services which also indicate similar trends. I think that in the context of our links which exist between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, the fairly solid bilateral ties that we have, we will raise the question through the diplomatic channel obviously, which is mine, but also through other channels such as for example at the defense level, given that through the Operation Shuuja, we also have quite frequent and periodic forums for interactions and discussions between our two armies. So, remain assured that this issue is not lost on us. We are aware of this and we are also dismayed by these reports…”

The report concludes that despite international condemnations, including those from the United States, France and the European Union, as well as calls from the UN Security Council to withdraw troops, “foreign military support for M23 has intensified.”

Concerning Rwanda, the report highlights an intensification of military support, with the presence of thousands of Rwandan soldiers in the territories of Rutshuru, Masisi and Nyiragongo, equipped with advanced equipment and armored vehicles. Rwanda continues to brush aside these allegations which it considers “lies.”

The M23 is a former Tutsi rebellion which took up arms again at the end of 2021, accusing the Congolese government of not having respected its commitments on the reintegration of its fighters. Since mid-June 2022, it has already recovered several areas of the North Kivu province in eastern Congo, including the city of Bunagana, on the border with Uganda where it has set up its headquarters. In recent days, the M23 rebels are advancing towards the far north and have already seized certain localities on the border with Ituri. The FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo), elements of the FDNB (Burundi National Defense Force) and the SADC force (Southern African Development Community) as well as local militias maintained by Congolese authorities, without forgetting Rwandan genocidaires FDLR, are still struggling to dislodge the M23, which affirms that “we are fighting to protect the Congolese Tutsis targeted by a new genocide”.

Until now, Kinshasa only sees the M23 as a branch of the Tutsi power of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, denying it any Congolese legitimacy.