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Grandstand. For two days, on November 29 and 30, fighters belonging to the March 23 Movement (M23) rebellion rounded up and killed villagers around Kishishe, a village in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). . According to a preliminary UN investigation, 131 civilians, including children and women, were massacred. Predictable expressions of outrage followed, including from the French government. But the Quai d’Orsay should recognize its own role in this situation. For months we have known that the M23 has been backed by the Rwandan government, but foreign donors – including France – have looked the other way, caring more about their bilateral interests than stability in Congo.
Since the M23 rebellion resurfaced in November 2021, it has worsened an already terrible situation, displacing more than 450,000 people and overrunning a key border town and the largest military camp in North Kivu province. It has upended already turbulent Congolese politics: the new national demobilization program has stalled, the army’s operations against other armed groups have been reoriented, and it has gouged a big hole in the meager budget of the Congolese state.
The conflict is not simple; this complexity can breed apathy and despair. There are more than 120 armed groups, spread over a territory the size of a quarter of France, which fight for a multitude of reasons. But Rwanda’s support for the M23 is neither complicated nor uncertain. UN investigators made this clear in June, as did Human Rights Watch and our own field researchers. According to many sources, another UN report will confirm this again in a few weeks.
The evidence comes from multiple sources: photographs taken by drones, the type of uniforms and equipment the rebels have, testimonies from villagers who have been in contact with them. The US government, once a great ally of Kigali, has also confirmed this in several statements. Unfortunately, the United States is quite alone in its remonstrances. Rwanda’s other allies did not go that far.
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