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

GANDHI’S RACIST LEGACY IN AFRICA

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) was killed on this day, five months after the British Empire split its ‘Jewel in the Crown’ into what is now known as India and Pakistan. 

But while the Indian masses remember Gandhi for fighting for India’s freedom, the same can’t be said for his attitude toward Black people on the African continent nor his position on India’s poor. While living in South Africa from 1893 to 1914, he attempted to align with the white ruling class by campaigning for the elites to treat Indians better than South African Blacks, whom he called ‘savages.’ It was a callous attempt to gain favour with the ruling authorities. 

Continued……. Plus, while freedom fighters waged their struggle in India, many Indian communists, Dalit leaders and US sociologist Gail Omvedt (1941-2021) have argued that Gandhi mobilised the masses into the bourgeois- and upper-caste-dominated Congress Party, thus consolidating the freedom movement in favour of conservatives and preventing a genuine social revolution to uplift the lowest castes and the poor. 

While many celebrate Gandhi’s achievements, the sinister South Africa chapter and his later work in favour of Indian elites, should not be forgotten. All leaders, past and present, should be held accountable for their conduct and words. Since many mark death commemorations by focusing on the positives and expunging the negatives, we at African Stream felt it was vital that we help set the record straight.

Source:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14672715.1973.10406314

EASTERN CONGO WAR INTENSIFIES

Global attention has locked on the rapidly escalating situation in the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels claim they control Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.

Following fierce battles in the city of 2 million people, unverified reports claimed that M23 rebels seized control of the airport. Protests then broke out in DRC's capital, Kinshasa, with demonstrators setting fire to several foreign embassies, among them those of Belgium, France, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the United States.

Meanwhile, DRC President Félix Tshisekedi snubbed a 29 January emergency meeting called by Kenyan President William Ruto, chairman of regional bloc, the East African Community (EAC).

Continued……The DRC government has, alongside the UN, accused Rwanda of supplying military and logistical aid to the insurgents. A UN expert report in June 2024 revealed that Kigali has dispatched up to 4,000 troops to eastern Congo, significantly empowering the M23 and enabling them to capture vast stretches of mineral-rich land. Rwandan President Paul Kagame admitted in 2022 that the DRC's plundered loot went through his country on its way to its destination.

The UN Refugee Agency reports that since the start of 2025, the fighting has forced 500,000 eastern Congolese to flee their homes. Fighting reignited after the cancellation of peace talks between the leaders of Congo and Rwanda, set for 15 December. Since then, the M23's advance has surged, seizing towns and settlements in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, effectively encircling Goma. In a state of panic, hundreds of thousands of residents are reportedly fleeing alongside surrendering Congolese forces and UN peacekeepers, crossing into Rwanda. The UN has urgently called for coordinated international action to halt the conflict, labelling the humanitarian crisis in the region as ‘unimaginable.’

Over 120 militia groups, fuelled by foreign interests, are locked in a fierce struggle for control over Congo’s untapped mineral wealth, estimated to be worth around $24 trillion. The surge in electric vehicles and smart technology has driven up demand for DRC’s cobalt, coltan, and other rare minerals, often extracted under horrific conditions, including the use of child labour. In March 2024, a US court dismissed a lawsuit brought by former child miners and their guardians against major tech companies in the US. However, similar legal actions are advancing in Europe.

Sources:

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

https://www.dw.com/en/dr-congo-people-flee-homes-2025/a-71440536

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-29/congo-unrest-goma-embassies-attacked/104869744

https://english.news.cn/africa/20250128/8709a2e23591488ca26bb5de8951be98/c.html

https://chimpreports.com/m23-rebellion-3-malawian-peacekeepers-killed-in-drc

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/26/g-s1-44839/international-peacekeepers-killed-eastern-congo

https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/01/1159541

https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2025/01/democratic-republic-of-the-congo-briefing-3.php

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/african-countries-condemn-attack-on-embassies-in-congo/3464804

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

BURKINA FASO’S GOT BIGGER FISH TO FRY!

Burkina Faso might be a dry Sahelian country without sea access, but that’s not stopping it boosting its fisheries sector. As part of a special ‘offensive,’ the country is hoping to produce 100,000 tonnes of fish in 2025.

Since last year, special cages have been installed at reservoirs across the country - with investors invited to take part. One success story is Samandeni Dam, where 15 tonnes of tilapia were harvested in four months.

Not all locations are at full capacity yet and opportunities to invest in the industry are still there to be seized. Interested?

Sources:

https://africa24tv.com/burkina-faso-100-mille-tonnes-de-poisson-a-lhorizon-2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGszHvLhxk0

AFRICAN LEADERS SUFFER ‘COLONIAL HANGOVER’

Inviting French President Emmanuel Macron to get involved in resolving an African dispute is akin to calling an arsonist to help put out a fire. 

Yet, African leaders have gone on to do precisely that, evidenced by Kenyan President William Ruto’s call with Paris on the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Ironically, two years ago, Ruto, now also the East African Community Heads of State Summit chair, trotted the continent spewing Pan-Africanist rhetoric, calling for ‘African solutions to African problems.’ 

However, as Kenyan lawyer and Pan-Africanist PLO Lumumba argues in this recent video clip, African leaders running to foreigners to manage their affairs is one reason the likes of Macron hold Africa in contempt. At a recent event, Macron said Africa ‘forgot to say thank you’ for France’s decade-long military occupation, during which t*rrorism increased.

Continued…. France, like other Western powers, helped destabilise the Great Lakes region. For example, France helped stoke the flames of the 1994 Rwanda g*nocide, according to an independent Rwandan commission. It said France was aware of preparations for the g*nocide and helped train the ethnic Hutu militia perpetrators. The g*nocide led to Rwanda invasion of DRC in 1996 and the long involvement of Kigali in a resource conflict that k*lled at least 6 million Congolese between 1998 and 2010, and displaced hundreds of thousands of people since M23’s resurgence in 2021. Rwanda-backed M23’s efforts to push people off mineral-rich land have displaced 500,000 this January alone. The chaos and instability have proven lucrative for global markets that rely on an estimated $24 trillion in untapped Congolese minerals, such as tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold (known as the ‘3TG’), which countries like Rwanda and Uganda have been instrumental in looting, according to the UN.

Video credit: @thee_alfa_house (X)

Sources:

https://www.blackagendareport.com/pan-african-masquerade-william-ruto-mask

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250107-macron-irks-allies-left-with-africa-forgot-to-say-thank-you-jibe

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7542418.stm

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

https://www.usaid.gov/democratic-republic-congo/fact-sheet/responsible-minerals-trade

Ruto
https://x.com/WilliamsRuto/status/1883912691816812811

African solutions
https://nation.africa/africa/news/president-ruto-calls-for-urgent-reforms-in-the-african-union--4262796

Despite overwhelming evidence presented by experts and independent investigators that Rwanda has been arming, funding and training the UN-sanctioned M23 rebels (who are leaving a trail of death and destruction in eastern Congo), Western nations continue to partner with - and fund - Kigali.

In July 2024, the UN reported that there were up to 4,000 Rwandan troops on the ground in the Congo, fighting alongside the M23. The report concluded that Rwanda’s forces have “de facto control and direction over M23 operations.”

Continued….. Yet while the West has issued statements condemning Rwanda’s role, no meaningful measures have been taken to deter Kigali.

On the contrary, relations have only strengthened. For example, in 2022, when there was already ample evidence of Rwanda’s destabilising role in DRC, the EU announced it would be providing the Rwandan Defence Forces with 20-million euros to support their military operations in Northern Mozambique.

It clearly serves the West’s interests not to resolve the crisis in Congo, whose bountiful resources power the world’s technologies. Instability enables exploitation. Which makes you wonder: is Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame actually the West’s foot solider in Africa?

Image credit: @mkadima01 (Instagram)

Sources:

https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/29/rwanda-backed-rebels-capture-goma/

https://africanarguments.org/2024/04/europes-indifference-to-rwandas-atrocities-is-costing-congolese-lives/

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2022/12/01/european-peace-facility-council-adopts-assistance-measures-in-support-of-the-armed-forces-of-five-countries/

https://apnews.com/article/un-congo-rwanda-troops-m23-panel-experts-8619a4ce5727a7fec85808ef76762d9b

https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/crisis-drc-un-peacekeepers-protecting-civilians-and-themselves-large-scale-offensive-operations-m23

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/fighting-ongoing-across-drcs-goma-rwanda-troops-city-says-un-2025-01-27/

State media sources say that ‘due to scheduling conflicts,’ Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Félix Tshisekedi declined to participate in regional discussions on 29 January to address escalating rebel violence in Goma, capital of the North Kivu province, in the heart of the DRC’s mineral-rich east.

Kenyan President William Ruto, current chair of the East African Community (EAC) regional bloc, had extended an invitation for a virtual summit to Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame amidst the three-decade foreign-instigated conflict over the DRC’s natural resources.