Demokratische Republik Kongo

After months of fighting and rising tensions across the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the region is enjoying “a fragile lull”, including an improvement in relations between the DRC and neighbouring Rwanda, the Security Council heard on Wednesday.

More than 30 people were killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri province earlier this [last] week in attacks attributed to a rebel group affiliated with the Islamic State jihadist group, the United Nations said Thursday.

East African regional forces have announced that are now in control of Bunagana, a strategic town in eastern DRC previously held by M23 rebels for more than nine months. The spokesman for the Ugandan contingent of the regional force … confirmed that the M23 rebels had been cooperative during the transition process.

[…] The Council targeted in particular the M23 rebels, whose attacks have increased in recent months in North Kivu, which borders Rwanda. … Kinshasa, independent UN experts and several Western governments say the M23 rebels are backed by Rwanda eyeing the natural resources across the border, a claim denied by Kigali.

The arrival of the Burundian forces as part of the first contingent of East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in August 2022, was meant to shore up the political settlement facilitated by the former Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta. 

The UN envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) warned the Security Council on Wednesday that the security situation in eastern Congo has "deteriorated considerably" in recent months and that the humanitarian situation has become "increasingly dramatic".

UN-appointed independent human rights investigators on Monday said there are grounds to believe that Libyan authorities and armed militia groups have been responsible for “a wide array” of war crimes, and crimes against humanity in recent years.

The reporting period was marked by the beginning of voter registration for the 2023 general elections, escalating tensions between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda and continued regional efforts to address insecurity in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A United Nations Security Council delegation wrapped up a three-day visit to DR Congo on Sunday, with ambassadors stressing a political solution to end the raging M23 rebel conflict.

Angola said on Saturday it will send a military unit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, after a ceasefire it brokered between rebel militiamen and government troops collapsed. The DR Congo’s restive east has witnessed a flare up in violence since a militia called M23 took up arms again in late 2021, going on to capture swathes of territory.