THE M23 WAR IS NO LONGER A REBELLION — IT IS AN INVASION
The war in the Democratic Republic of Congo is no longer just a national crisis — it is the collapse of our sovereignty. The Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have ignored every call for peace from the East African Community and SADC. They are not negotiating. They are conquering.
Goma has fallen. Bukavu has fallen. Now they are advancing toward Uvira, and the road to Kinshasa is no longer just a nightmare — it is a possibility. The rebel columns move fast, taking towns like Kamanyola, threatening Butembo and Bunia. What started as a local insurgency has become a regional war with Rwanda and Uganda pulling the strings, while the Congolese army, broken by corruption and hunger, barely resists.
How can it be that a country as vast as ours — the heart of Africa — is being torn apart by a force smaller than a province? The answer is painful: we have been betrayed from within. Our soldiers are unpaid. Our generals are divided. Our leaders spend more time in conferences than in command posts. Rwanda and Uganda plan their moves while Kinshasa argues about protocol.
If the M23 fully controls North and South Kivu — an area five times the size of Rwanda — then it will not just be another occupation. It will be annexation. It will be the slow, silent theft of Congo’s flesh. The minerals that fuel the world — coltan, gold, cobalt, lithium — will no longer belong to us. They will be sold through Kigali, polished with lies, and shipped to Europe and America.
This is not just war. It is economic colonization wearing a military uniform.
The United Nations says 3,000 people were killed when M23 attacked Goma. Others say it is far more. Over half a million people have fled their homes since the rebels began their latest push. There are now seven million displaced Congolese — families living in mud, children dying from hunger, girls raped in the name of revenge.
And while people bleed, Rwanda celebrates “security.” Uganda sends troops under the excuse of fighting the ADF, yet somehow their movements always match M23’s advance. Burundi retreats to protect itself, while the South African, Tanzanian, and Malawian soldiers of SADC stay trapped in bases surrounded by rebels. Twenty of them are already dead.
This is not peacekeeping. It is paralysis.
We must call this war what it is: Rwanda’s war of expansion. Their troops are fighting side by side with M23 — the UN has proven it. Their goal is clear: to control our minerals, our borders, our land. But their invasion succeeds because our own leaders have allowed Congo to rot from inside.
President Tshisekedi’s government talks about sovereignty while begging for foreign troops. He blames Rwanda, but how can we win a war when our own army is weakened by theft and disunity? How many soldiers must die before we realize that an army cannot fight without trust, without food, without pay?
The M23 has also changed. They are not the ragtag militia of 2012. They are now the armed wing of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) — a political and military coalition led by Corneille Nangaa, the same man who once managed our elections. Their message is no longer just about Tutsi grievances. They now speak of “national liberation,” pretending to fight for all Swahili-speaking Congolese. But this is a lie — they fight for Rwanda’s interests, not Congo’s freedom.
They are building administration structures, collecting taxes, running mines, retraining captured soldiers, and forcing young men into their ranks. This is not rebellion. It is government by occupation.
And while M23 grows stronger, the world remains silent. The European Union still sends hundreds of millions of dollars to Rwanda, pretending it is for “climate resilience” and “raw material development.” Yet the same minerals they pay for are soaked in Congolese blood. It is shameful hypocrisy. The West condemns Russia for invading Ukraine, but when Rwanda invades Congo, they look away.
Now the region trembles. South Africa has warned Rwanda that further attacks on its soldiers would be treated as an act of war. Kagame replied coldly: “If South Africa prefers confrontation, Rwanda will deal with it.” These are not empty words — these are the echoes of 1998. We are walking toward another African World War.
If this happens, millions will die again. We have seen this movie before — in 1996, in 1998 — and it always ends the same way: Congo buried under the greed of its neighbours and the silence of the world.
We do not need another peace agreement signed in luxury hotels. We need truth, justice, and courage. Rwanda must withdraw its troops. Uganda must stop pretending. Our leaders must clean their own house and rebuild the army. The international community must stop funding our destruction through backdoor mineral deals.
Above all, the Congolese people must rise. Because this war is not only against M23 — it is against despair itself. If we lose the Kivus, we lose Congo.
This is not the time for silence. This is the time to say enough. The soil of Congo has fed the world for too long — now it is covered in blood. We must defend it, or we will vanish as a nation.