KINSHASA: MULTIPLE EMBASSIES ATTACKED

Videos have emerged showing multiple embassies being torched and vandalised by protesters in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa - including the Belgian, French and Rwandan missions. Tires were burned outside the US embassy, with the UN’s headquarters also attacked.

People hit the streets after news that parts of Goma - the capital of North Kivu Province in eastern DRC - fell to Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, who have k*lled, r*ped and terrorised civilians.

Despite overwhelming evidence detailing Rwanda’s support for the M23 militia - which is intent on seizing control of mineral-rich regions of the country - Belgium, France, the UK, and the US continue to support Kigali. Western condemnation has largely been performative, with no real punishments.

Continued….. Moreover, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country (MONUSCO) is widely seen as a failure, unable to adequately protect civilians. UN personnel in Congo have also been accused of abuse of power and s*xual exploitation.

The 30-year proxy war over minerals in Congo has resulted in approximately 6 million deaths and the displacement of over 7 million people.

Sources:

https://www.thetimes.com/world/africa/article/congo-the-fight-for-blood-minerals-found-in-every-mobile-ssm0phr80

https://apnews.com/article/congo-goma-m23-rebels-rwanda-3b4f2e66da0743dadc7bd5eae855d8f0

https://apnews.com/article/sexual-exploitation-congo-united-nations-peacekeepers-d8a767eb32da0da7be6ecc6af2cd11fb

https://apnews.com/article/congo-goma-m23-rebels-residents-abac3115088f0c7591c69d495a3769ae

https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/violence-democratic-republic-congo

https://worldwithoutgenocide.org/genocides-and-conflicts/congo

https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n24/118/80/pdf/n2411880.pdf

In this week's ‘Wednesday Wisdom,’ Argentina-born Cuban revolutionary and ally to the African struggle for liberation, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (1928-67), reminds us that the Congo problem is a collective problem.

With the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) only worsening following ongoing escalations and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels recently seizing parts of Goma city, Guevara's words couldn't be more timely.

Between 1998 and 2010, over 6 million Congolese died in the DRC, considered the world's most resource-rich country. While foreign companies, the West, African elites and other individuals benefit from its riches, the DRC’s people remain impoverished, with 73 per cent of its population living on less than $2.15 a day.

Seeing the Congo exploited for decades reminds us that the global systems of oppression and imperialism have made human life in the Global South dispensable.

Continued….. However, if we do not act collectively, our silence, which normalises imperialism in the Congo, will have far reaching consequences for all people of the Global South.

Sources:

https://syracuse.ecampus.com/african-dream-diaries-revolutionary-war/bk/9780802138347

https://www.caritas.org/2010/02/six-million-dead-in-congos-war

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/drc/overview

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2025/1/27/photo-residents-flee-goma-as-m23-rebels-enter-drcs-largest-eastern-city

AFRICA’S VISA RESTRICTION NIGHTMARE

Why is the free movement of Africans across the continent so challenging? For years, there have been appeals for African countries to relax their visa restrictions, enabling us to travel more easily within Africa. Currently, only Benin, The Gambia, Rwanda, the Seychelles and Kenya have taken the progressive step of allowing visa-free entry to Africans. You’d have thought there’d be more such countries, given the clear advantages associated with unrestricted movement - such as enhanced intra-African trade and the promotion of pan-African unity.

And speaking of pan-African unity, the Alliance of Sahel States has declared that it will begin issuing joint passports starting 29 January. This new biometric ID will grant free movement between the three member nations (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger).

Continued……. Let’s hope other African states follow their example!

Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/junta-led-sahel-states-ready-joint-force-5000-troops-says-minister-2025-01-22/

https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/november-2024/easing-travel-restrictions-boost-intra-african-trade#:~:text=Free%20movement%20is%20key&text=Yet%20only%20four%20African%20countries,for%20it%20to%20take%20effect

https://www.visaopenness.org/visa-openness-in-africa-2024-findings-2/

WEST USING PROXIES TO CARRY OUT WAR IN CONGO

The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has boiled over in recent days. 

The M23 rebels, backed by Uganda and Rwanda, encroached on Goma city on 27 January, forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to flee to safer areas. Then, in the capital, Kinshasa, anger over the escalation erupted on 28 January as protesters attacked several embassies. The collapse of the December 2024 peace talks between the leaders of Rwanda and the DRC has only intensified the crisis. 

Continued….. During a 2 April 2024 episode on African Stream’s flagship podcast, ‘Pan-African Attitude,’ Pan-Africanist scholar PLO Lumumba highlighted how international powers have never wanted to help resolve Congo’s conflict. Lumumba added that Western governments have always used Africans to sow division in the mineral-rich Congo to facilitate the exploitation of its resources. He gave an example of how US and Belgian intelligence services groomed the DRC’s longtime president, Mobutu Sese Seko (1930-97), to overthrow revolutionary leader Patrice Lumumba (1925-61) and take power from 1965 until 1997. Lumumba also said the West has used proxies throughout modern times.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyv4606y4jzo

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c134kgdpd6do

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/9/uganda-backed-m23-in-drc-rwandas-de-facto-control-on-group-un-experts

https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n24/118/80/pdf/n2411880.pdf

https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/50/5040402_-africa-rwanda-drc-kagame-s-hidden-war-in-the-congo-.html

KAGAME ADMITS DRC PLUNDER GOES THROUGH RWANDA

With the Kigali-backed M23 rebels making rapid gains in eastern DRC, here’s a flashback to 2022 - when Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, openly admitted that plundered loot from the neighbouring Congo went through his country. But instead of taking responsibility, he attempts to deflect blame.

He urges his audience to focus on the final destinations of the stolen minerals - he cites Dubai, Brussels, Tel Aviv - claiming that if Kigali stopped the flow, there’d be trouble for Kigali. But this lame excuse is a calculated deception: Rwanda isn’t merely a transit point, it’s one of the biggest profiteers from Congo’s suffering.

Despite having almost no mineral reserves of its own, Rwanda has become one of the world’s leading exporters of coltan and gold, all of which are overwhemingly mined in the DRC.

Continued….. Moreover, the UN has pointed the finger at Rwanda, saying there is strong evidence it’s backing the atrocities-committing M23, and has sent up to 4,000 of its own soldiers over the border to assist the rebels in their deadly mine-grabbing rampage.

So while Kagame might be right that the buyers of plundered Congolese wealth are guilty of fanning the war, his shameless attempt to pass the buck ignores the fact that Rwanda is a central player in this blood-stained supply chain. His hands are far from clean.

Hear Us Roar: https://news.1rj.ru/str/AfricanStream

DISTRAUGHT CONGOLESE SISTER’S PAIN

As with any long-running war, it’s easy to forget the human reality. But the anguished tears of this distressed young Congolese sister pierce through any reduction of the crisis in eastern DRC to mere stats and figures. She says she was already an orphan, having lost her mum and dad, and now advancing M23 rebels have taken her husband as well and killed him. Her plight is one of many millions: in the last 30 years, 7 million - like her - have been displaced and 6 million - like her husband - killed.

So much sorrow caused by the greed of external actors like Rwanda who don’t care how much misery they inflict on the Congolese people so long as they can get their dirty hands on its mineral wealth.

Video credit: Radiogo FM (Instagram)

Hear Us Roar: https://news.1rj.ru/str/AfricanStream

KAGAME TO U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: 'NEED DRC CEASEFIRE'

The Puppet Olympics are too close to call.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on 29 January, just days after Kenyan President William Ruto discussed the rapidly deteriorating crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The M23 rebel group’s attacks, which began in 2021, have escalated in recent weeks. Reports have emerged that the rebels have entered the North Kivu capital of Goma and seized control of the airport. 

Continued….. Kagame’s insistence that Rwanda does not back the rebel group is at odds with UN experts' June 2024 report claiming between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwandan soldiers operate alongside the M23. Rwanda’s economic interests in the Congo also cast doubt on Kagame’s alleged desire to address the conflict’s root causes, with the M23, for instance, generating $300,000 a month after the capture of Rubaya.

Kagame thinks Rwanda and the US should deepen bilateral ties pegged on national interests. This, too, while not an admission of guilt, is worrying. While some sources accuse Rwanda of looting Congolese minerals, many accuse US tech giants of using these minerals to build smartphones, electric vehicles and other high-tech items. Last year, a US court refused to hold five tech companies—Google parent Alphabet, Apple, Dell Technologies, Microsoft and Tesla—accountable on child labour allegations on the technicality that they did not have anything more than an ‘ordinary buyer-seller transaction’ with suppliers in the DRC. Legal proceedings have now advanced in Europe against Apple. What mutual interests do Rwanda and the US share?

With all this in mind, how will African states working with US President Donald Trump’s second administration create prosperity and security for the region amidst these allegations? Please share your thoughts.

Sources
https://x.com/PaulKagame/status/1884376209527873784

https://www.kenyans.co.ke/news/108422-ruto-speaks-french-president-emmanuel-macron-over-drc-crisis

M23 - Goma
https://apnews.com/article/congo-goma-m23-rebels-residents-abac3115088f0c7591c69d495a3769ae

4,000 Rwandan troops among M23
https://cic.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/The-Resurgence-of-the-M23-EN.pdf

https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n24/118/80/pdf/n2411880.pdf

M23 economic interests in DRC
https://cic.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/The-Resurgence-of-the-M23-EN.pdf

https://www.dw.com/en/congo-violence-m23-raw-materials/a-71417304

US tech giants and Congo minerals
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/usa-apple-google-tesla-and-other-tech-companies-not-liable-over-alleged-child-labor-in-drc-says-appeals-court

https://www.fairplanet.org/story/congo-lawsuit-apple-minerals-child-labour-iphone

https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-court-absolves-top-tech-companies-congos-child/story?id=107839639

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/congo-files-criminal-complaints-against-apple-europe-over-conflict-minerals-2024-12-17

M23 revenues from mining area
https://apnews.com/article/congo-mining-m23-un-security-council-b11207ba887b352d702c3e4603d0c891

CONGOLESE TO GOV’T ON M23: ‘GIVE US GUNS’

As the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels intensify their attacks in and around the Congolese city of Congo, some citizens are demanding a more robust response from their government and military.

This video shows dozens of citizens marching on 28 January in the capital, Kinshasa, demanding that the government provide weapons so they can defend their homeland from M23 and its Rwandan backers.

‘Fatshi [Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi’s nickname], just give us the weapons. We will take care of the rest,’ the group could be heard chanting in this video.

In the run-up to the 2023 presidential elections, Tshisekedi promised a decisive campaign against the M23 and Rwanda for the atrocities they are committing in eastern DRC.

Continued……Addressing a December 2023 rally in Kinshasa, just days before Election Day, Tshisekedi promised to march to Kigali if Rwanda continued its aggression. Days earlier, at a rally in Bukavu, on the border with Rwanda, the Congolese president likened his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, to Germany’s Adolf H*tler and warned him that he would end up like the N*zi leader if he continued with his ‘expansionist aims.’

However, since assuming his second term in office, Tshisekedi has not taken any such steps, leading many to claim that his tough talk was nothing more than mere campaign rhetoric to win votes in the country’s east, the region affected by the Rwandan-instigated insurgency.

However, Tshisekedi insists he has not backtracked from his position but is giving diplomacy a chance. Further, in a March 2024 interview with Radio France and the Wall Street Journal, Tshisekedi said the DRC was prepared to respond to the Rwandan-backed aggression with force if diplomatic activities failed.

Going by the events of the last few days, the diplomacy Tshisekedi referred to has failed.

On 25 January, the British newspaper, the Guardian, reported that large groups of Rwandan soldiers recently crossed into the DRC to help the M23 siege on Goma.

Video credit: @CitoyenBeya (X)

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67669187

https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/news/africa/war-drums-beat-in-drc-tshisekedi-threatens-to-invade-rwanda-4469098

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/le-monde-africa/article/2024/04/02/felix-tshisekedi-president-of-the-drc-rwanda-is-not-the-only-one-responsible-for-the-congo-s-misfortunes_6667092_124.html

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jan/25/rwandan-army-ready-to-invade-drc-and-help-rebels-seize-city

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-68021220

UGANDA EMBASSY LOOTED, SET ABLAZE, OVER M23 LINKS

Footage out of Kinshasa shows Uganda’s embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) looted and partially set ablaze by protesters accusing Uganda of supporting the M23 rebel group after it reportedly captured the eastern city of Goma on 27 January. Protesters also targeted other embassies, including those of Belgium, France, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the United States. 

Uganda’s state minister for foreign affairs confirmed the damage, and local police were deployed to restore order and protect diplomats who had gone into hiding. Congo’s communications minister urged protesters to cease, adding that police had brought the situation under control.

Continued…. Meanwhile, intense fighting continued near Goma International Airport between Congolese soldiers and M23 rebels. A June 2024 UN experts’ report said Uganda supports the militia by allowing supplies and recruits to pass through Ugandan territory and coordinating with M23 leaders in the Congolese town of Bunagana. It alleges Ugandan military intelligence officers have been providing logistics and transport for M23 leaders, including its military chief, Sultani Makenga, who has travelled to Uganda despite a travel ban. The report also claims Uganda is backing the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), seen as M23’s political arm, according to analysts at the BBC.

In 2022, the International Court of Justice, the UN’s highest court, ruled that Uganda owes the DRC $325 million in reparations over violations of international law. Uganda occupied parts of eastern DRC and supported other armed groups during a conflict that raged from 1998 to 2003. The judgement broke down as $225 million for ‘loss of life and other damage to persons’ (including s*xual assaults), $40 million for damage to property and $60 million for damage to natural resources, including the plunder of gold, diamonds, timber and other goods.

Sources
Uganda embassy looted
https://www.independent.co.ug/ugandas-embassy-in-drc-attacked/

Uganda support for M23
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/9/uganda-backed-m23-in-drc-rwandas-de-facto-control-on-group-un-experts

ICJ orders reparations
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/9/un-court-orders-uganda-to-pay-325m-in-reparations-to-dr-congo

UN experts report
https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n24/118/80/pdf/n2411880.pdf

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c134kgdpd6do

‘THE KING LEOPOLD OF 2024 IS PAUL KAGAME’

Rwanda is under scrutiny for supporting M23 rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) amidst M23 reportedly entering Goma city, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee.

A June 2024 UN experts’ report revealed that the central African state had dispatched as many as 4,000 troops to reinforce M23 insurgents and provided advanced weaponry and logistical assistance.

Since the breakdown of peace talks between Rwandan and Congolese leaders in mid-December 2024, M23 has surged forward, seizing vast areas of mineral-rich land and claiming control of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.

Kambale Musavuli, a guest on our ‘Pan-African Attitude’ podcast in April 2024, drew a striking parallel between Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Belgian King Leopold II, notorious for his brutal exploitation of Congo, which he colonised from 1885 to 1908 as the ‘Congo Free State.’

Continued……. Kambale, a Congolese native and an analyst with the Center for Research on Congo-Kinshasa, explains that Rwanda serves as a crucial conduit for Congo’s mineral wealth, a reality Kagame has acknowledged.

Just as Leopold mercilessly extracted rubber from Congo over a century ago to fuel the United States’ burgeoning automotive industry, Musavuli contends that Kagame permits the West and its allies to smuggle Congolese minerals essential for electric vehicles (EVs) to facilitate the West’s clean energy shift.

Approximately 6 million Congolese had been k*lled between 1998 and 2010 and over 7 million have been displaced in the country’s three-decade resource war, which also features horrific s*xual and human rights abuses.

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gql91CphSXk

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53017188

https://www.caritas.org/2010/02/six-million-dead-in-congos-war/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/1/29/dr-congo-live-news-rwanda-backed-m23-rebels-tighten-grip-on-goma

CONGO SOLDIER’S FINAL WORDS

This haunting video has surfaced, allegedly showing a Congolese soldier in his final moments of despair. Injured by a bullet and trapped in the dense underbrush, he shared his final thoughts, one last plea to a friend to take care of his financial affairs after he died. Tragically, he reportedly was confirmed dead just minutes after recording this heart-wrenching message. 

The air in Congo is thick with the scent of loss and sorrow as the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) spirals into deeper chaos. The M23 rebels, backed by Rwanda and Uganda, reportedly advanced on Goma city on 27 January, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee. Unverified reports have emerged of the rebels seizing control of Goma’s airport. 

In the capital, anger erupted on 28 January as protesters targeted embassies of countries like Belgium, France, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the United States. Belgium and France are former colonisers that remain neo-colonisers.

Continued….. The United States benefitted from African colonisation and morphed into a neo-coloniser by forcing newly independent African states to take on loans most haven’t been able to pay without causing inflation and cost-of-living crises. The UN has reported Rwanda and Uganda support M23 rebels that have forced millions of Congolese off their lands in the resource conflict. And, finally, Kenya has been playing mediator, but drawing French President Emmanuel Macron into the conversation about conflicts in the DRC, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan.

The collapse of peace talks between the leaders of Rwanda and the DRC set for 15 December in Luanda, Angola, has only intensified the crisis. This foreign-instigated three-decade-long war over resources already claimed around 6 million lives between 1998 and 2010, and it has displaced over 7 million people as of the latest figures, leaving a trail of devastation.

Sources:

https://x.com/Humanrights256/status/1884536041433940216

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/fall-of-drc-s-goma-urgent-action-to-avert-a-regional-war-4905516

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/28/protesters-attack-french-us-rwandan-embassies-in-drc

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0qwlkydxxko

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/15/rwanda-dr-congo-peace-talks-hit-snag-as-mediator-angola-calls-off-meeting

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/21/a-guide-to-the-decades-long-conflict-in-dr-congo

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/rwanda-backed-congo-rebels-face-pockets-resistance-after-entering-goma-2025-01-28

https://www.caritas.org/2010/02/six-million-dead-in-congos-war