Rwanda-backed M23 advances in DRC as volunteers mobilize to fight back
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M23 fighters have been advancing south toward the city of Kavumu in neighboring South Kivu, which hosts a strategic military airfield.
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Volunteers react as they line up to register as members of the Wazalendo -Patriots in Swahili- group to fight alongside the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) against the M23 armed group at the Funu Stadium in Bukavu on January 31, 2025. (AFP)
After capturing the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Rwandan-backed armed group M23 advanced southward on Friday into a neighboring province, as young men volunteered to fight alongside the Congolese army, AFP reported on Friday.
M23 seized Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, following intense battles earlier this week and has vowed to march all the way to the capital, Kinshasa.
The weeks-long offensive marks a dramatic escalation in a region plagued by relentless conflict for decades, where fighting involving dozens of armed groups has claimed an estimated six million lives over the past 30 years.
The DRC accuses Rwanda of seeking to exploit the region’s vast mineral wealth—essential for global electronics—a claim supported by UN experts who state that Kigali exercises "de facto control" over the M23.
Rwanda denies both the accusation and any military involvement, asserting that its primary interest is eradicating a group composed of Hutu militants formed in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
The escalating crisis has alarmed both African and international observers and triggered warnings of a worsening humanitarian disaster in a region already home to hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
M23 advancing toward Kavumu
On Friday, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) held an emergency summit in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, attended remotely by Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi.
Before leaders entered closed-door discussions, SADC Chair and Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared that "our region stands ready to intensify efforts to protect SADC citizens from all forms of instability."
In North Kivu, a new military governor was sworn in on Friday in the city of Beni, which has been declared the new provincial capital after the fall of Goma. The province’s previous governor was shot and killed near the front lines last week.
Meanwhile, M23 fighters have been advancing south toward the city of Kavumu in neighboring South Kivu, which hosts a strategic military airfield. The Congolese army has established a defensive line just 40 kilometers north of South Kivu’s capital, Bukavu.
In Bukavu—home to two million people and the second-largest city in eastern DRC after Goma—an AFP reporter witnessed long queues of volunteers enlisting in a Congolese militia fighting alongside the army.
Blood donations, voluntary conscripts
Dozens of young men trained on the red earth of a stadium, a day after the provincial interior minister called on residents to mobilize against the M23.
In the capital Kinshasa, dozens of people donated blood following a health ministry appeal to assist soldiers and civilians wounded in clashes around Goma, where sporadic fighting continues on the city's northern outskirts.
Following battles that have left more than 100 people dead, according to an AFP tally, running water and electricity have begun to return to parts of Goma.
In the city, a small protest erupted against the Congolese government, with demonstrators chanting, "We are tired of Tshisekedi."
The United Nations reported on Friday that it had documented the summary execution of "at least 12 people by M23" over the past week and was verifying reports that 52 women had been "raped by Congolese troops" in South Kivu.
Many Western nations, along with China and conflict mediator Angola, have called on Rwanda to withdraw its forces from the vast Central African nation.
Belgium has urged the European Union to consider sanctions, while the United Kingdom has stated it is reviewing its aid to Rwanda.
The conflict has also fueled tensions between Rwandan President Paul Kagame and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa after 13 South African soldiers were killed in eastern DRC.
