AFRICA/DR CONGO - South Kivu: Front lines between the M23 and the "Wazalendo" militias run through the Ruzizi plain

Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) - The front line between the M23 guerrillas and the "Wazalendo" militiamen runs through the Ruzizi plain (in the province of South Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo). According to a report by the local civil society "Association against Evil and for the Supervision of Youth and Human Rights" (ACMEJ) and sent to Fides, the M23 controls the village of Kamanyola, while Katogota is allegedly controlled by the "Wazalendo" militias.
The latter control the bridge in Katogota. "This is causing great fear among the population of the two villages, as they have become the front line where the two elephants are waiting to meet and will end up like grass trampled by pachyderms," the note says. Control of the Ruzizi plain is strategically important because it represents a natural border between the DRC and Burundi on the one hand, and between the DRC and Rwanda on the other. Control of the river plain would allow the M23 to approach both borders, threaten Burundi (an ally of the government in Kinshasa) and open up another route for the Rwandan army to deliver aid to the movement. And above all, to export strategic minerals illegally mined in the DRC to Rwanda. In previous wars in the east of the DRC, the village of Katogota was the scene of a massacre that left an indelible memory among its inhabitants. "During the RCD/Goma period, on May 14, 2000, the soldiers of this movement carried out a massacre of the civilian population in Katogota, which left 375 civilians dead and was accompanied by a systematic looting of the property of the civilian population," the note says. The "Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie" (RCD) is just one of the many names of a pro-Rwandan guerrilla movement that later became the M23 (see Fides, 18/2/2025). The note concludes with an appeal "to the international community, the UN Security Council, the European Union, France and other major world powers to fulfill their duty to save the Democratic Republic of Congo in this difficult period for its civilian population." "In order to obtain the strategic minerals they seek, these countries should not obtain them via Rwanda, but directly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is the rightful owner," it says. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 4/3/2025)

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