Congo conflict: Türkiye offers to mediate widening gulf among parties

Civilians carry their belongings as they flee the Nzulo camp for internally displaced people towards Goma, as fighting between M23 rebels and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) intensifies, near Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo on January 22, 2025.

Photo credit: Reuters

The conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo worsened this week with more violent clashes and displacements, even as Türkiye offered to provide “any kind of support” to end the war.

The escalation was reflected in a warning from the US Embassy in Kinshasa, asking American citizens to be prepared to leave on short notice from the troubled region.

The mission spoke of the “severity of the armed conflict”, which it said had increased over the last month. It urged citizens to review their own safety plans, including departure on short notice.

“Take advantage of commercial transportation options if you wish to leave the region. Avoid crowds and demonstrations. Be aware of your surroundings. Monitor local media for updates. Keep a low profile.”

The warning came as M23 rebel group threatened to take over Goma, the largest city in eastern DRC in North Kivu Province.

On Thursday, fighting was concentrated in Sake, 24 kilometres from Goma. Sake is the last stop before reaching the tourist and commercial city of Goma, a city of nearly two million residents, many of them expatriates.

Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance (AFC), a coalition of rebels including the M23, announced that the rebels would “take Goma in a few days”. However, the Congolese army called on “the public to remain calm and not to give in to panic and disinformation massively relayed by the enemy”.

“The clashes in Sake caused panic in Goma, where schools closed urgently on Thursday,” Dady Saleh, a professor at the University of Goma, told The EastAfrican. The situation in Sake remains unclear as the Congolese army has not communicated.

The governor of North Kivu, Maj-Gen Peter Cirimwami, banned “navigation of small boats the day and on Lake Kivu between the provinces of North and South Kivu, until further notice.”

President Félix Tshisekedi cut short his working visit to Switzerland, where he was attending the Davos Economic Forum. The head of State chaired a crisis meeting in Kinshasa on Thursday evening attended by Prime Minister Judith Suminwa, deputy prime ministers for Interior and Security Jacquemain Shabani and for Defence Guy Mwadyamvita.

South Africa’s role

Mr Tshisekedi will also chair the Defence Council on Friday. The President of the National Assembly, Vital Kamerhe, also cut short his stay in Vietnam, where he was participating in the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie, in order to return to the country and possibly take part in the Defence Council.

Also in Kinshasa, Angie Motshekga, the South African Minister of Defence, met with her Congolese counterpart, Mr Mwadyamvita. Ms Motshekga is on a four-day trip that ends on Saturday.

 “The minister’s commitment will contribute to ongoing efforts to promote peace, stability and security in the DRC,” sources in South Africa said.

The South African army commands the Southern African Development Community mission in the DRC, known as SAMIDRC, which has been supporting the Congolese army in the struggle to restore peace for more than a year.

Turkiye support

With the latest escalation, Türkiye has offered to provide any kind of support that could influence the parties in the Congo conflict to end the war.

The offer from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan came even as the warring parties widened their rift with blame games and vows of revenge.

Erdoğan spoke as he hosted Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who was on a two-day visit to Türkiye this week to discuss a wide range of issues, including trade and bilateral relations. Ankara has invested some $500 million in Kigali and the trade volume between them has been rising steadily since the 2000s.

But the issue of peace and security, and the fact that Rwanda is a major party to the conflict in eastern Congo, was always going to come up.

Erdoğan acknowledged the mediation efforts already underway between Rwanda and the DRC through Angolan leader Joao Lourenco, who has been trying to broker ceasefire agreements between the DRC and the M23 rebel group, which Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of backing. Kigali denies the claims.

“We appreciate Rwanda’s contributions to the establishment of stability and security in the East Africa and Great Lakes Region. We hope that the conflict with the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be resolved through peaceful means,” Erdoğan said.

“We sincerely support the direct negotiations mediated by Angola. If both of the sides wish so, Türkiye stands ready to provide every kind of support for the settlement of this issue, which would contribute to stability and peace in the Great Lakes Region.”

Luanda Process

However, Angola’s mediation project, known as the Luanda Process, has recently run into difficulties, with Kigali and Kinshasa exchanging bitter words about who is to blame and disagreeing on how to resolve the problem.

Last week, Kagame told the diplomatic corps in Kigali that the problem lay with Kinshasa, which was being manipulated by outside forces and ignoring the root of the problem.

President Tshisekedi responded by saying he was open to dialogue, as long as it does not involve M23. This rebel group, mainly composed of Kinyarwanda speakers in the DRC, has been the point of disagreement both at the table and in the field. While Kigali says dialogue with the group is the solution, Kinshasa has labelled it a terrorist group with which it cannot negotiate.

The effects have been felt on the warfront in North and South Kivu provinces. On Tuesday, the Congolese army, the Fardc, acknowledged the rebels' advance in the two eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“The enemy has made a breakthrough on Bweremana in North Kivu and Minova in South Kivu,” said Maj-Gen Sylvain Ekenge, spokesman for the Congolese army. However, Maj-Gen Ekenge declared that “everywhere, the enemy is registering huge losses in men and material.”

The Congolese army assured that “all measures are being taken to block the path of the aggressor and restore peace to the eastern part of our country.”

Goma ‘seige’

But that wasn’t enough, especially for civil society groups in eastern DRC who have voiced concern and warned of an attempt by the rebels to encircle Goma, the first major city in North Kivu.

“The M23’s strategy is clearly to suffocate the town of Goma. To date, Goma is surrounded by the M23, and the fear is that there will be a shortage of foodstuffs, as access routes to the city are blocked,” noted the Lucha (Struggle for Change), a civil society organisation.

The local media reported that Goma had been isolated by the M23 rebels and is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, with all supply routes cut off, including the last one, Minova.

The city is in danger of being suffocated by the teeming masses of displaced civilians, requiring an urgent response to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe, Lucha said.

The towns where the rebels have made inroads, Bweremana and Minova, are two major conurbations straddling North and South Kivu, with almost 250,000 inhabitants and displaced persons.

“Minova is a key commercial port, through which many agricultural products are transported to Goma via Lake Kivu or the road through Masisi,” noted a source familiar with the region.

‘Largest tropical forest

Against this context, Gen Pacifique Masunzu, the new commander of the Third Defence Zone, which covers the eastern provinces of the DRC, arrived in Bukavu, the largest city in South Kivu, on an inspection and command mission, the army said. This is his first visit to the city since being appointed head of the defence zone a month ago.

According to the UN’s humanitarian coordination office, OCHA DRC, at least two people have been killed by shells falling on Minova.

The UN Office said that several humanitarian activities have since been suspended. Also according to OCHA DRC, Minova recorded “more than 178,000 displaced persons between January 4 and 20, 2025, and at least 113 wounded were transferred to Goma for emergency treatment”.

For President Tshisekedi, however, the non-military means of ending the war will be about restoring natural resources for the benefit of the Congolese.

This week, Tshisekedi told an audience in Davos, Switzerland, that his country has embarked on creating what will be earth’s largest tropical forest reserve to protect over 550,000 square kilometres of forest throughout the Congo River Basin.

This will directly shield lives of over 31 million people and protect nearly 108,000 sq km of pristine forest, while creating over 500,000 jobs, including 20,000 specifically for young men and women demobilised from armed groups.

“This initiative goes beyond simply environmental preservation. It represents a comprehensive strategy to revitalise our economy, strength our communities and promote lasting peace in our eastern provinces that have long been affected by armed conflicts and instability,” said Tshisekedi.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, he directly linked environmental degradation to the conflict in eastern DRC.

“This historic, unprecedented initiative will transform not only our natural landscapes, but also the livelihoods of millions of our citizens,” he said at a session when defending earth’s longest lung, the Congo Basin.

While the theft of natural resources has been cited as one of the motivations for the war, the availability of these resources is itself an obstacle to peace.

According to a recent report by a UN panel of experts, several rebel groups have used the illegal sale of minerals and timber to fund themselves, improve their weapons and thus their desire to continue fighting.

In eastern DRC, there are over 120 armed groups. But the biggest menace on both sides of the battle lines is posed by the M23, the FDLR (remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide), and Codeco (armed militia allied to the Fardc).  

Even as Tshisekedi offered peace through environmental conservation, the debate is whether conservation peace comes first.

He said: “We will build an economy that will respect all people and nature. This is a fundamental right and pragmatic solution to eradicating the illegal revenues that finance conflicts in the eastern DRC, where three decades of war have caused devastating effect to more than six million of fellow citizens,” he explained.

“This local tragedy is a global threat. If we fail to protect these forests, the future of the planet will be compromised. This is why we need to reinvent the way we truly engage peace by lasting solutions based on nature and the principles of equality and social justice.”

In the Congo war, parties to the conflict have, however, also expressed fatigue with the never-ending interventions. The Congo River Alliance (AFC), a rebel coalition that also includes M23 said the international community has blown hot and cold over the fire of the war, becoming a part of the problem. 

The AFC has accused Burundian forces of taking sides in the war, although Gitega argues that it is working with Kinshasa to stabilise eastern Congo, as are other troops in the Southern African bloc's SAMIDRC mission.

“Our organisation reaffirms its unwavering commitment to protecting and defending civilians’ populations... We remain determined to respond to call for help made by our compatriots who seek liberation from atrocities orchestrated daily under the orders of Mr Tshisekedi and Mr Ndayishimiye,” said Lawrence Kanyuka, AFC spokesperson.

Some hospitals in Goma said they had received large numbers of wounded. Emmanuel Lampaert, country representative for Doctors without Borders (MSF) in the DRC, told a local media outlet that “the Ndosho hospital in Goma, designed to accommodate 147 patients, is now holding over 200, far exceeding its capacity.”

In South Kivu, the medical charity reduced its activities in two medical facilities (in Numbi and Minova), after patients fled the violence.