Inside the War That Never Ends: DR Congo Civilians Caught in the Crossfire as M23 Rebels Advance
In the mist-shrouded hills of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the cycle of violence that has defined the region for three decades shows no sign of breaking. The M23 rebel movement — a Tutsi-led armed group that claims to fight for the rights of Congolese Tutsis but which Kinshasa and a growing body of international evidence links closely to Rwanda — has this year intensified its offensive against the Congolese army, displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians and pushing aid organisations to the brink of collapse.
The humanitarian toll is staggering. The United Nations estimates that more than 6 million people are internally displaced in the DRC — the largest displacement crisis in Africa — and the numbers are growing by the week. In areas near the front lines in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, entire villages have been abandoned.
A Conflict the World Has Forgotten
Despite its scale, the crisis in eastern DRC receives a fraction of the international media and diplomatic attention devoted to conflicts elsewhere. For those living through it, there is nothing abstract about the violence. Markets have been shelled. Health centres have been looted. UN peacekeepers — present in the DRC in substantial numbers for over two decades — have been repeatedly targeted, with M23 fighters attacking their bases and, in some cases, seizing their equipment.
The Rwanda Question
Kinshasa has long accused Rwanda of sponsoring the M23 — a charge the Rwandan government has consistently denied. However, a report by the United Nations Group of Experts, leaked in late 2025, provided what analysts described as compelling evidence that Rwanda’s military and intelligence services exercise direct command and control over M23 operations.
The findings prompted the African Union to call an emergency summit and the European Union to review its development assistance to Rwanda. For Congolese civilians, the diplomatic statements offer cold comfort.
"Rwanda denies, denies, denies, and the proof is in the graves of our people," said one civil society leader in Goma.
Civilians Bear the Brunt
The human cost of the M23 offensive has been devastating. The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) recorded more than 1,400 civilian deaths attributable to M23 operations in the first quarter of 2026 alone — a figure that almost certainly undercounts the true toll.
Sexual violence has been a hallmark of the conflict. Women and girls face systematic risk of assault when they venture outside their homes to collect water, firewood, or to travel to market. Displacement camps, intended as sanctuaries, have instead become sites of desperation and violence.
Children have been recruited — and in some cases killed — by armed groups on all sides. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has documented the use of child soldiers by M23, by FARDC-aligned militias, and by the numerous self-defence groups that have sprung up in response to the M23 advance.
A Peace Process That Has Failed
The DRC government has repeatedly sought dialogue with the M23, and regional summits have produced communiqués and commitments that have not been translated into action on the ground. The Nairobi and Luena processes, which aimed to broker ceasefires and political agreements, have collapsed repeatedly.
For the civilians trapped between the fighting lines, there is no good outcome available. They flee, they suffer, and they wait — waiting for the war to end, waiting for the world to notice, waiting for the peace that has been promised so many times and broken so many more.
The fighting continues.
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