Congo rebels thumb nose at Trump’s peace deal

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Rwanda-allied rebels were pressing in on the eastern city of Uvira in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday after days of heavy fighting that flew in the face of Donald Trump’s claims to have made peace in the region.

Uvira is the third largest city in the Kivu region of eastern Congo after Goma and Bukavu, both of which have been under the control of the M23 rebel group since it seized a swath of territory rich in gold, coltan and tin earlier this year. Uvira sits on the shores of Lake Tanganyika just a few kilometres from the border with Burundi.

The M23, with alleged support from Rwanda, has advanced rapidly south to within 30km of the city over the past few days, according to accounts from NGOs, the Congolese armed forces known as FARDC and the rebels themselves.

This was after driving Congolese soldiers, allied Burundian troops and “Wazalendo” militia from towns and villages along the way in an offensive that began just before the Rwandan and Congolese presidents signed a peace agreement at the White House last Thursday.

The Washington agreement, which the US president hailed as “historic”, is intended to draw a line under 30 years of conflict in the border regions between Rwanda, Burundi and Congo. It is underpinned by guarantees of US access to critical mineral deposits and a regional economic integration pact.  

“The very next day after the signing, units of the Rwandan Defence Forces conducted and supported heavy weapons attacks launched from the Rwandan town of Bugarama,” Congo President Félix Tshisekedi said in a speech to the Congolese parliament on Monday, characterising the attacks as “unjust aggression”.

Thousands of Congolese have fled the latest violence, adding to nearly 2mn displaced since the start of the year, including across the borders into Burundi and Rwanda, according to diplomats and aid workers.

Burundi’s SOS Media, an independent NGO formed in 2015 to defend impartial reporting, said Congolese and Burundian soldiers mixed with militia were among a huge influx of people fleeing from the Uvira area ahead of further expected M23 advances.

The rebels are involved in parallel talks with the Congolese government, mediated by Qatar, and did not sign the Washington agreement.

“For us to be heard here you have to be a strong force on the ground,” said an official from eastern Congo, who asked not to be named, arguing that the M23 were expanding their control of border regions as leverage in future negotiations in Doha.

Trump has repeatedly claimed to have ended the war in DR Congo. At an earlier stage, Massad Boulos, the US president’s special adviser on African affairs, defended progress in the US and Qatar-led peace process, despite setbacks on the ground, saying: “This is a process . . . This is not a light switch that you just switch on and off.”  

The M23 rebels claim to be defending the interests and lives of minority ethnic Tutsis in eastern Congo in the face of discrimination and ethnic hatred. On social media, supporters have urged them further into south Kivu province to protect Tutsis isolated on the high plateau above Uvira.   

UN experts estimate that 5,000 to 7,000 Rwandan soldiers have been in DR Congo supporting the rebellion, which has also drawn thousands of fresh recruits to its ranks this year.

The Rwandan government, which denies backing and arming the rebels, says its troops crossed the border as a “defensive measure”. It accuses the Congolese army of aligning with rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, whose ranks include Hutu fighters and origins can be traced to the soldiers and militias that carried out the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994.

The capture of Uvira by the M23 would shake up the government in neighbouring Burundi, which has sent thousands of troops into DR Congo to support the FARDC.

Jason Stearns, a Congo specialist and former leader of the UN panel of experts on the country, said the rebel offensive was probably intended to remind the world that they are not party to the Washington deal.

“It is certainly a rude reminder for Trump that he can’t bring peace by signing a document,” he said.

In Kigali, there is also widespread scepticism about whether the US-brokered agreement will lead to much immediate change on the ground. People close to the M23 doubt the rebels can be persuaded to withdraw from territories they have captured any time soon.

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, who has made no secret of his distrust for Tshisekedi, nevertheless praised the US peace efforts in an interview with Al Jazeera on Monday, saying there “had never been so much attention” to the conflict.