Over the past week, South Africa has paid the high cost for countries whose soldiers take part in a conflict that has turned the lives of millions of Congolese upside down.
The South African National Defence Force confirmed on 27 January that three more soldiers had been killed in fighting near the airport in Goma, the capital of North Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as the city fell to the Rwanda-supported armed group, the M23. This brings the number of South African soldiers killed in eastern Congo to 14 in the past 10 days.
The soldiers were part of the regional Southern African Development Community force in eastern DRC alongside a UN mission. Three Malawian soldiers and one Uruguayan peacekeeper were killed later in the week in fighting outside the city. The Southern African force was deployed to fight the M23 in December 2023.
The M23 have committed unlawful killings, rape and other war crimes in the region since late 2021. Human Rights Watch documented that, since early 2024, they have frequently attacked densely populated displacement camps and towns west of Goma with heavy artillery and other explosive weapons, killing and injuring civilians, damaging civilian infrastructure and exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
The Congolese army and its allies have also committed serious abuse, including unlawful killings, and rape, against civilians.
Victims of violence — whether committed by national armies or armed groups — have for decades told Human Rights Watch that they want justice.
This is not the first time the M23 has posed a military threat in eastern Congo. In late 2012, the armed group took control of Goma for about five weeks, executing perceived enemies under the guise of security.
Like Rwandan backed armed groups before it, the M23 professes to protect the region’s minority Tutsi population. But their resurgence has generated more violence and hate crimes against Congolese Tutsi. These claims mask the Rwandan government’s conspicuous economic incentives in helping the armed group seize mining sites.
Multiple UN and media reports, as well as Human Rights Watch research, point to Rwanda as the principal force behind the abusive M23. Rwanda has thousands of well-armed troops in eastern Congo. According to the UN, the M23 and the Rwandan forces have deployed surface-to-air missiles, armoured vehicles and special forces while fighting the Congolese army, its allies, international forces and UN peacekeepers.
Rwandan involvement is no secret — South Africa, the US, the UK and some EU member states condemned Rwanda’s overt support to the M23 last week at the UN Security Council. South Africa’s ambassador also called for a return to regional peace initiatives.
When the M23 took Goma in 2012, it took strong international pressure, led by the US, to push Rwandan President Paul Kagame to withdraw his support for the group. Such pressure seems missing today.
Many governments and observers are instead looking for a resolution of the crisis through African Union-mandated peace talks. The regional initiatives include both the Luanda Process, revived in 2022 to promote dialogue between Rwanda and Congo and led by Angolan President João Lourenҫo, and the Nairobi Process, created in 2022, and aimed at facilitating dialogue between the Congolese government and armed groups and backed by the East African Community.
Both initiatives, which aim to create some type of durable peace, have thus far stalled — a ceasefire in 2024 almost immediately fell apart as the M23 conquered further territory in the ensuing six months.
But the M23’s recent capture of Goma has given them a new urgency. News reports state that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke with Kagame on 28 January and both leaders reportedly agreed that peace talks were needed. But diplomatic efforts have started with a sputter as both Ramaphosa and Kagame questioned the other’s intentions.
The situation is dire for civilians caught up in the M23’s advance. The M23 and Rwandan forces are gaining territory in South Kivu and other armed groups continue to commit abuses against civilians in Ituri province to the north. Hundreds of thousands newly displaced in Goma face uncertainty as the M23 has a record of dismantling displacement camps, contending they are no longer necessary. All sides need to facilitate the delivery of food and medical supplies to those most in need.
This time, African peace initiatives should confront head-on the conflict’s cycles of violence and impunity. For any peace deal to be durable, there needs to be credible and fair prosecution of those responsible for the worst crimes. Otherwise, the rampant abuses in Congo, fuelled by the lack of accountability, will not be brought to an end.
International partners, including South Africa and the Southern African Development Community, should make clear to national armies, armed groups, and the governments that sponsor them, that peace this time does not mean impunity.