A resurgence in fighting in the eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo has seen more than 2 million Goma residents cut off from food supply. Residents are unsure how long they can hold out as rebels from the ethnic Tutsi-led M23 movement are blocking the two main roads into Goma from the north and the west and preventing produce from getting through. This has summarily cut off all access to farms that have previously fed the city.
The intensifying conflict has seen more than 7 million people flee their homes in the eastern parts of DRC. Goma has also seen a significant rise in population as people sought refuge in the city from the marauding rebels.
Most Goma residents are waiting anxiously and hoping the conflict ends so they can go back to their homes. The raging conflict has defined most of DRC’s history since the end of colonial rule.
A representative from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told the BBC that patient numbers had surged in early February noting that ‘we were before 80 patients in our ward, and now we have 130 patients so it’s really hard to manage.’
What is disheartening for most Goma residents is the daily sight of people streaming into the city by foot, minibusses, and motorbikes for refuge.
The M23 rebels began operating in 2012 with an outside goal of protecting the Tutsi population in the east of DR Congo which had long complained of persecution and discrimination.
Security experts from the United Nations have previously found evidence of Rwanda backing the M23 rebels group; The Robert Kakame-led regime in Kigali has however maintained that it offers no support to the rebels.
There is widespread fear among Goma residents and the international community that the M23 rebels could eventually take the lakeside city and evoke memories of the momentary 2012 ‘takeover.’ Analysts say M23 is by far the most organized, disciplined, and well-equipped of the many militia groups in Eastern DRC.
Presidential Promises To Goma Residents
During one of his addresses to the nation and the international community last year, President Félix Tshisekedi said ‘Congolese need to learn to trust us, Goma will never fall.’ It is a message of reassurance to Goma residents that he repeated throughout his re-election campaign. Having successfully been re-elected, it remains to be seen the level of response to the threat posed by the rebels.
Besides being within an agriculturally rich locale, Goma has become a vital economic hub for the DRC in that it is within reach of major mining towns supplying metals and minerals in high demand such as gold, tin, and coltan. Its road and air transport links and the huge UN peacekeeping base, have attracted a host of businesses, international organizations, and diplomatic consulates.
For M23 rebels, Goma is a valuable strategic target.
In the aftermath of M23’s withdrawal in 2012, it suffered a series of heavy defeats at the hands of the Congolese army backed by a multinational force that saw it expelled from the country. M23 fighters then agreed to be re-integrated into the army in return for promises that Tutsis would be protected. But in 2021, the group took up arms again, saying the promises had been broken.
It emerged from the mountain forests on the border between DR Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda and edged closer to Goma taking swathes of territory. Ceasefires have been agreed upon, but these have all broken down, with the government and the M23 blaming each other. The M23 has repeatedly said it still wants peace negotiations with Kinshasa.
Last year, an East African force, which was in DR Congo to help protect civilians and secure areas that armed groups had withdrawn from, left the country at the government’s request. Its departure in December was followed by the end of the latest ceasefire and the recent upsurge in activity by the M23.
President Tshisekedi hopes that a southern African force that recently arrived in its place will have more success as it has a mandate to attack rebel groups. He has also asked the large UN force in the country, known as Monusco, to leave. It has become increasingly unpopular for its failure to end the conflict during its 25-year deployment.
But there are concerns that the conflict could get even worse after the Congolese president threatened in December to declare war on Rwanda if the rebels attack again. In an apparent reply to the remarks, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said in January that in defending his country “we will fight like people who have nothing to lose”.
Goma residents will follow the unfolding events closely even as multiple independent observers predict ‘devastating effects on an already vulnerable population.’
