In the year 2025, conflicts continue to take place across the world. The Gaza genocide, tensions in the South China Sea, and Donald Trump’s proposals to expel Palestinians from their homeland are all examples of intractable realities which advocates of peace have to contend with. While it is a known fact that many Western capitals continue to pay inadequate attention to the multifaceted quagmires unfolding in Gaza, other case studies reveal similar apathy. This includes what continues to unfold in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from its decades-long civil unrest, including widespread militancy, lawlessness, anarchy, manslaughter, and the genocide of innocent Congolese. The perpetrators include the M23 militia, its allies, and its rivals who have exacerbated the crisis and contributed to one of the world’s most devastating humanitarian quagmires. 

However, Western countries, many of which were former colonial powers who ruled over African states such as the DRC, remain indifferent to the vicious cycle of violence there. This raises questions as to whether so-called champions of global human rights are actually selective in their approach toward dealing with conflicts. 

Based on evidence and what is happening in Gaza, the answer is yes. 

Colonize, deprive, and ignore

The DRC was colonized by the Kingdom of Belgium from 1885 to 1908 and later by the Belgian state until 1960. Since then, one of the most impoverished but resource-rich countries of Africa has been beset by internal strife which has continued in 2025. The M23 movement, which is principally responsible for widespread killings, also justifies its violence by referring to the March 23, 2009 Peace Agreement between the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), (a rebel group previously engaged in the Kivu conflict) and the Congolese government after independence. It is important to note, however, that the CNDP, from where the M23 emerged, consists primarily of ethnic Tutsis who were massacred by the Hutus during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. That genocide resulted in close to 600,000 deaths (mainly Tutsis) with its residual effects reverberating across the domestic landscape of the DRC. 

In fact, the historical context of the Rwandan genocide is important as thousands of Tutsis fleeing to the DRC during the genocide shaped subsequent ethnic relations and tensions in the DRC. These historical cleavages also allowed the predominantly Tutsi M23 group to continue its ruthless operations with little to no resistance. 

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It is, hence, clear that the genesis of the DRC conflict is the lopsided policy making and ethnic engineering of colonial powers. It is a product of ethnic tensions between the Tutsis and the Hutus in Rwanda being exacerbated by colonial powers and is now leaving an indelible impact on the DRC. 

Colonial political interference

There is more. 

The Belgians and the Germans implemented domestic systems in Rwanda, which gave preference to the ethnic Tutsis at the expense of the Hutus. This resulted in hierarchies being established and domestic power tussles becoming pronounced. Further exacerbation of ethnic tensions eventually culminated in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. In the DRC, the M23 movement’s grievances after 2009 are also about Tutsis gaining autonomy in a country with significant Hutu influence and to have the terms of the 2009 Peace Agreement implemented, including the integration of the CNDP into the national military with protection for the Tutsis in the region. 

However, that has not happened amid historical colonial legacies from Western powers leaving an indelible impact and contributing to the prevailing, lingering quagmire. This has meant that several thousands of deaths were witnessed in the DRC and more than 800,000 displacements. This is also concomitant with widespread sexual violence, recruitment of child soldiers, pervasive food insecurity, and abductions. 

Ideally, such a situation should have resulted in calls for reparations from former colonial powers or a desire to push for reconciliation among all warring factions. 

That has not happened as the DRC is grossly neglected. 

Western fixation with neocolonialism

Instead, what the majority of the Western world is interested in is neocolonialism. The bigoted mantra of "Israel" needing to "defend" itself continues to be disseminated across their mainstream media channels and official discourses by politicians and policy makers. On the other hand, much of the West, including former colonial powers such as Belgium, is simply not interested in resolving conflicts such as the DRC quagmire. Barring a cursory reference to historical wrongs committed due to colonialism in Africa and fleeting comments on the need for de-escalation in the DRC, there has been no concerted effort to call for a peaceful end to the crisis. Instead, the modus operandi has been to cover stories, shed light on the horrendous human rights abuses being committed, as well as the plight of the Congolese. Then it switches back to pro-"Israel", pro-Ukraine narrative building with scant attention paid to actual victims of the conflict.  

To turn a blind eye on one conflict while supporting a genocide in Gaza is a testament to the hypocritical approach by which many western, former colonial powers, such as Belgium, to conflict resolution. Whether it is the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar by the military junta or the deafening cries of Palestinian generations being massacred in broad daylight by Israeli occupation forces, the response of certain western capitals makes it clear that certain world conflicts are not as important as others. This applies to the DRC crisis where a colonial footprint, gross neglect and lack of attention has resulted in the status quo prevailing, both unscathed and untouched. 

That, in itself, is a damning indictment.