Corneille Nangaa, the new leader of the M23 rebel group in eastern Congo, has declared his intention to fight all the way to Kinshasa, the national capital. This move signifies a shift in the group's agenda, moving from an ethnic Tutsi-focused organization to one seeking wider Congolese recognition.
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Learning a new language: Is 2025 the year to take on this goal? Rebel leader of rebel group of Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) including M23, Corneille Nangaa, addresses a news conference in Goma, Democratic republic of the Congo, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga) Residents listen to M23 rebel soldiers in Goma, Democratic republic of the Congo, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa) Residents walk by charred vehicles in Goma, Democratic republic of the Congo, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)Rebel leader of rebel group of Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) including M23, Corneille Nangaa, addresses a news conference in Goma, Democratic republic of the Congo, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)This week, the man who emerged from the shadows to assert his leadership was not the group's long-time military leader. Sultani Makenga, an ethnic Tutsi rebel leader sanctioned by both the U.S. and the U.N., was nowhere to be seen in Goma’s Serena Hotel as the was ushered into the hall. Nangaa, who is not a Tutsi and who analysts say brings a more diverse, Congolese face to the group, told reporters of his plan to fight all the way to Kinshasa, the national capital a thousand miles away.The spectacle was significant because it captures the evolution of M23 from an ethnic Tutsi-dominated outfit more than a decade ago to one that’s now actively seeking to be seen as a Congolese nationalist group. That's the case despite the military support it gets. He has been a controversial figure in Congolese politics for years. As the election commission chair, he oversaw the heavily criticized vote that elected Tshisekedi and led the U.S. to sanction him in 2019 for undermining Congo's democracy. A falling-out with Congolese authorities, including a dispute over a mining concession, sent Nangaa into exile in Kenya. In 2023, he joined the Congo River Alliance, a political-military coalition including 17 parties and rebel groups opposed to the government of Tshisekedi and became a top political figure. Besides the mining, his grievance is also believed to be due to the president’s alleged refusal to advocate for the U.S. dropping Nangaa from its sanctions list, according to Christian Moleka, a political scientist at the Congolese think tank Dypol. “His perception that he had been mistreated by the authorities is what pushed him towards radicalization,” Moleka said.Last year, Makenga’s M23 joined Nangaa’s Congo River Alliance and with Nangaa at the helm of the revamped outfit, the M23 looked even more menacing to Congolese authorities, analysts say. M23 is more of a threat now because the group is trying to “decouple the question of self-determination in eastern Congo” from evidence of Rwandan support, said Angelo Izama, an analyst with the Uganda-based Fanaka Kwawote think tank. The rebels want to provoke a national discussion on widespread feelings of neglect in eastern Congo while gaining “as much territory as possible such that they can force the Congolese state to deal with questions of genuine autonomy and to force some kind of negotiation,” he said. Unlike in 2012, when the M23 took Goma in a campaign led by Kinyarwanda-speaking fighters pushing mainly for their full integration into the Congolese army, “this time it has a national agenda,” the Crisis Group think tank said of M23 in a recent assessment. With Nangaa’s Congo River Alliance as the “political umbrella' for the M23, the think tank said the rebels have accumulated resources and allies that made them “attractive partners not only to armed groups in eastern (Congo) but to others aiming to undermine Tshisekedi.” “This is in line with (Rwanda's) probable strategy of creating a deniable but powerful Congolese front to exact the maximum leverage over Kinshasa and confirm its dominance of North Kivu (province), at a minimum,” the think tank said. United Nations experts have asserted that some 4,000 Rwandan troops back M23 rebels in North Kivu. To take Goma, which is strategically located close to the Rwanda border, the rebels defeated Congolese government troops who long had been supported by local militias known as Wazalendo as well as U.N. and regional peacekeepers and mercenaries from Europe. M23 has about 6,500 fighters, according to U.N. estimates
Africa News M23 Corneille Nangaa Congo Kinshasa Rebel Group Political Instability Self-Determination Rwandan Support Eastern Congo Conflicts United Nations
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