A Rwandan Proxy Group Takes Control of an Eastern Congo City

Members of the Rwanda-backed M23 militia entered Goma, a city on the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, uncontested Nov. 20. The rebels now appear to be advancing toward Bukavu, another important city in the Kivu region. The moves are the result of an escalating conflict between the two countries that began even before Nov. 18, when the Democratic Republic of the Congo allegedly shelled Rwanda.

M23 has it own political and economic interests, but Kigali uses M23 as a proxy in eastern Congo to exploit Congolese mineral reserves, secure its western border and counter potential threats from rival ethnic groups. Indeed, the immediate threat to Rwanda from the Congolese states of North Kivu and South Kivu centers on the rivalry between Rwanda's ruling ethnic Tutsis and the ethnic Hutus. But on a more fundamental level, Rwanda is contending with an unfortunate location between Eastern Africa's Great Lake highlands and the edge of the jungle drainage basin of the Congo River. For Rwanda, border insecurity makes securing a buffer zone against the Congo a key strategic goal — one that Kigali wants to achieve through its relationship with M23.