{"id":298261,"date":"2025-07-14T12:01:40","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T11:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=298261"},"modified":"2025-10-06T14:26:41","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T13:26:41","slug":"un-group-of-experts-on-drc-jun-2025-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2025\/07\/un-group-of-experts-on-drc-jun-2025-report\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Group of Experts on DRC–Jun 2025 Report"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Willy Ngoma, military spokesperson for AFC\/M23, posed next to the carcass of an armored vehicle after AFC\/M23 and Rwandan Defense Forces seized control of Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, on 27 Jan 2025.<\/p><\/div>\n

The UN Group of Experts on DRC reports the obvious, that Rwandan President Paul Kagame intends to annex DRC\u2019s Kivu Provinces.<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

9 Jul 2025\u00a0<\/em>–\u00a0It\u2019s long been obvious to anyone following Rwanda\u2019s 30-year war of aggression in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that Rwandan President Kagame\u2019s ultimate goal is to annex the mineral-rich Kivu Provinces bordering Rwanda. His project has come closer to fruition every year since his M23 militia re-emerged in a new push to claim territory and mines in November 2021. The June 2025 UN Group of Experts Report on DRC <\/a> makes abundantly clear that he is now in de facto control of both provinces. His troops seized Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, in January. They seized Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu Province in February. <\/span><\/p>\n

No one could be honestly surprised, including the UN investigators, so the real question is why \u201cthe international community\u201d let this happen. The UN Security Council has passed resolutions demanding that M23 withdraw from the territory it controls and that Rwandan troops withdraw from DRC, but no sanctions serious enough to force them to are ever imposed, neither by the UN nor by the big Western powers. The US and its NATO allies exclude Russia, North Korea, and Eritrea from the SWIFT system for conducting international financial transactions, but no one has ever proposed imposing this harshest of Western sanctions on Rwanda, not at any point in its 30 years of invasion, occupation, and plunder. <\/span><\/p>\n

China goes along with the UN Security Council\u2019s toothless resolutions but continues to sell arms <\/a> to both Rwanda and DRC. <\/span><\/p>\n

The US long ago anointed Kagame and his Tutsi elite as resource managers in this part of the world, and now it\u2019s working out just fine for all concerned. All the governments, corporations, traffickers, and traders are happy to sit by as Kagame proceeds with his annexation project. <\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone likes to do business in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, which hasn\u2019t suffered the ravages of Kagame\u2019s war of aggression, all of which has taken place within DRC\u2019s borders. Kigali\u2019s a beautiful modern city with clean streets, 5-star hotels, and a globally renowned sports arena and convention center. Financial services are easy to access, and the Internet works. <\/span><\/p>\n

The savage truth of the 30-year war of aggression should nevertheless be told, and more of it is in the UN investigators\u2019 latest report.<\/span><\/p>\n

M23 is Rwanda<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The M23 operates as a division of the Rwandan army under Rwandan command; UN investigators said so in last year\u2019s June and December reports and in this latest again. The press should stop quoting Kagame\u2019s preposterous statement that his troops are not in DRC. No one believes this, least of all Trump\u2019s Middle East and Africa advisor Massad Boulos <\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

AFC, the Alliance Fleuve Congo, is the political arm of the M23 militia, so the two are often identified as AFC\/M23. Here are just a few quotes from the report which make it clear that M23, or AFC\/M23, is Rwandan:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne week prior to the Goma attack, Rwandan officials confidentially informed the Group that President Paul Kagame had decided to imminently take control of Goma and Bukavu.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

“Following RDF [Rwandan Defense Force] additional reinforcements, on 27 January 2025, AFC\/M23 and RDF took full control of Goma town.”<\/span><\/p>\n

“AFC\/M23 did not show genuine commitment to a negotiated settlement of the crisis. AFC\/M23 leaders and Rwandan government officials expressed that \u2018AFC\/M23 would not leave the occupied areas, whatever the outcome of the negotiations\u2019 and that \u2018the time for agreements has passed.\u2019” <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSources close to the Rwandan Government and AFC\/M23 reported that Rwanda\u2019s intention was to soon reinstall sanctioned individual Laurent Nkunda as one of the leaders of AFC\/M23. Laurent Nkunda\u2019s planned travel to AFC\/M23 controlled territories aimed at boosting the rebellion\u2019s legitimacy and popular support. Laurent Nkunda reportedly accepted Rwanda <\/a>\u2019s project, and agreed to recognize Sultani Makenga\u2013with whom he had long-standing rivalries\u2013as the military commander of the rebellion.” <\/span><\/p>\n

Rwandan colonization<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Much of the report is devoted to Rwanda\u2019s \u201csystematic effort to dismantle existing State authority and civil\u00a0<\/span>structures in territories under its control, replacing them with its own parallel governance while targeting perceived dissenters, erasing institutional records, and laying the groundwork for demographic and land control changes.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

New governors are appointed; more Rwandans are empowered to oversee mining, taxation, banking, border controls, and all else official. Property is confiscated and new deeds are drawn up.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a particularly callous move, AFC\/M23 demanded an $8000 tax on every UN food ration truck entering Goma, DRC from Gisenyi, Rwanda, refusing to recognize the UN\u2019s tax exempt status. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the DRC, traditional chiefs play an important role in local governance. They are central figures of authority and local legitimacy, exerting considerable influence in social affairs, land issues, and conflict resolution. The report includes lists of 18 customary chiefs that M23\/Rwanda removed from Nyiragongo and Rutshuru Territories.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chiefs, civil servants, and civil society leaders flee intimidation and torture. Men, boys, and children are forcibly recruited into the ranks of M23 and the Rwandan Defense Force (RDF), as are surrendering Congolese troops. Some even wind up serving in the RDF mission to defend France\/TOTAL Energies <\/a>\u2019 interests in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rwandans who neither speak the local language, understand local customs, nor know how to count in the local currency arrive to take the place of Congolese who have fled from the M23\/Rwandan army to take refuge in IDP camps. <\/span><\/p>\n

Annexation at last<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s very close and is no surprise to those who have followed the struggles of the Congolese people since Rwanda\u2019s 1996 invasion. Here\u2019s from the report\u2019s section on what Rwanda\u2019s been up to all along:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Group interviewed many sources\u2013RDF soldiers, AFC\/M23 combatants, sources closely linked to the Rwandan Government and intelligence sources\u2013who provided details on Rwanda\u2019s overt and covert objectives when providing military, logistical and intelligence support to AFC\/M23. The following quotes provide some information on the objectives and strategy of the Government of Rwanda:<\/span><\/p>\n