DRC’s east ‘at breaking point’ as M23’s advances worsen security, humanitarian crises

The security and humanitarian situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has further deteriorated, despite the recently held peaceful elections, as M23 rebels continue to expand its territory, the United Nations has warned.
The armed group M23 “is making significant advances and expanding its territory to unprecedented levels,” Bintou Keita, the head of the UN’s DRC peacekeeping mission MONUSCO, told the UN Security Council last week, warning of a rapidly deteriorating security situation and a humanitarian crisis reaching near catastrophic levels. “More than 7.1 million people have been displaced in the country. That is 800,000 people more since my last briefing three months ago,” said the head of the UN mission as it begins its phased withdrawal after 25 years of its presence in the country.
The situation in the eastern DRC is at a breaking point, as the M23 has intensified its fighting with the Congolese army, expanding the war to the outskirts of Sake, a village 25km from the regional capital Goma. With hundreds of thousands of civilians pushed from their homes, the DRC is the country most affected by food insecurity, she pointed out, noting that “one Congolese person out of four faces hunger and malnutrition”. Plagued by violence for 30 years, the DRC’s Eastern region has seen more than 200 armed groups roaming the area, vying for control of its precious minerals, including cobalt and coltan, two key elements needed to produce batteries. Kinshasa, alongside the UN and the United States and other Western powers, have accused neighboring Rwanda of backing the M23, a claim that Kigali has denied.