The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or MONUSCO, is a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A planned withdrawal from the country is currently on indefinite hold due to the unstable security situation.
Goma International Airport, colloquially known by its acronym AIG based on its French name, is the primary international airport serving Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Located in the Karisimbi commune, the airport lies approximately 2 kilometers from Goma's city center, strategically positioned between the active Nyiragongo volcano to the north and the gas-laden Lake Kivu. The airport is situated along the road to Rutshuru and is bordered by Murara, Virunga, and Majengo neighborhoods to the east and west, Mikeno (Birere) to the south, and Majengo to the north.
The Kivu conflict is an umbrella term for a series of protracted armed conflicts in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo which have occurred since the end of the Second Congo War. Including neighboring Ituri province, there are more than 120 different armed groups active in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Currently, some of the most active rebel groups include the Allied Democratic Forces, the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, the March 23 Movement, and many local Mai Mai militias. In addition to rebel groups and the governmental FARDC troops, a number of national and international organizations have intervened militarily in the conflict, including the United Nations force known as MONUSCO, and an East African Community regional force.
The M23 rebellion was an armed conflict in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), that occurred between the March 23 Movement and government forces between 4 April 2012 and 7 November 2013. It ended when a peace agreement was made among eleven African nations, and the M23 troops surrendered in Uganda. The rebellion was part of continued fighting in the region after the formal end of the Second Congo War in 2003. The conflict reignited in late 2021 after rebel "general" Sultani Makenga and 100 rebel fighters attacked the border town of Bunagana but failed. A few months later, with a much larger force, the rebels of the M23 movement renewed their attack and captured Bunagana.
The March 23 Movement, often abbreviated as M23 and also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army, is a Congolese Tutsi-led rebel military group. Based in eastern areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), it operates mainly in the province of North Kivu, which borders both Uganda and Rwanda, and is backed by Rwanda. The M23 rebellion of 2012 to 2013 against the DRC government led to the displacement of large numbers of people. On 20 November 2012, M23 took control of Goma, a provincial capital with a population of a million people, but it was requested to evacuate it by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region because the DRC government had finally agreed to negotiate. In late 2012, Congolese troops, along with UN troops, retook control of Goma, and M23 announced a ceasefire and said that it wanted to resume peace talks.
The Alliance of Patriots for a Free and Sovereign Congo is an armed militia group which operates in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. APCLS is traditionally active in Masisi Territory, North Kivu and is considered one of the largest mai-mai groups operating in the province. Formed in 2006, the APCLS draws most of its support from the Hunde ethnic group. Its ideology is founded on opposition to the Tutsi ethnic groups who are believed to threaten the integrity of the Congolese state and to be supported, in particular, by Rwanda. The APCLS is a belligerent in the ongoing Kivu conflict and is led by Janvier Buingo Karairi, known as General Janvier.
The United Nations Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) is a military formation which constitutes part of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). It was authorized by the United Nations Security Council on 28 March 2013 through Resolution 2098. Although it is not the first instance in which the use of force was authorized by the UN, the Force Intervention Brigade is the first UN peacekeeping operation specifically tasked to carry out targeted offensive operations to "neutralize and disarm" groups considered a threat to state authority and civilian security. In this case, the main target was the M23 militia group, as well as other Congolese and foreign rebel groups. While such operations do not require the support of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), the Force Intervention Brigade often acts in unison with the FARDC to disarm rebel groups.
The Allied Democratic Forces insurgency is an ongoing conflict waged by the Allied Democratic Forces in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, against the governments of those two countries and the MONUSCO. The insurgency began in 1996, intensifying in 2013, resulting in hundreds of deaths. The ADF is known to currently control a number of hidden camps which are home to about 2,000 people; in these camps, the ADF operates as a proto-state with "an internal security service, a prison, health clinics, and an orphanage" as well as schools for boys and girls.
Lieutenant General James Aloizi Mwakibolwa is a Tanzanian military officer. He served as chief of staff of the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) between 2017 and 2018 and previously commanded the Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) of the United Nations' MONUSCO peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 2013 and 2014. His command encompassed the M23 rebellion and Mwakibolwa was personally credited with making an important contribution to the defeat of the M23 rebels in Kivu Province.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The 2017 Semuliki attack was an attack carried out by elements of the Allied Democratic Forces on a United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) operating base in the Beni Territory, North Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on December 7, 2017. The attack was highly coordinated and resulted in the deaths of fifteen U.N. peacekeeping personnel and wounds to 53 others making it the deadliest incident for the U.N. since the deaths of twenty-four Pakistani peacekeepers in an ambush in Somalia in 1993. The attack was among many of the latest flare-ups in violence in the North Kivu region which borders Uganda and Rwanda and one of the ADF's deadliest attacks in recent history. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres labeled the attack, "the worst attack on UN peacekeepers in the organization's recent history."
Mamadou Mustafa Ndala was a colonel in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In late March 2022, the March 23 Movement (M23), supported by Rwanda, launched an offensive in North Kivu against the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), and MONUSCO. The fighting displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians and caused renewed tensions between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.
A conflict began between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda in 2022 after Rwandan forces entered the country to provide military support to the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group, including fighting alongside them against the Congolese military (FARDC) and pro-government militias.
Events of the year 2022 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Yusufu Eric Mboneza, more commonly called Yusuf Mboneza, is or was a Congolese military officer and rebel. During his career he served in the Rally for Congolese Democracy, the National Congress for the Defence of the People, the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and finally the March 23 Movement.
In late July 2022, anti-MONUSCO protests manifested in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The protests were against MONUSCO, the United Nations' peacekeeping force in the country, which has been accused by Congolese politicians and civilians of failing to take action to end the decades-old conflict within the country. The protestors demanded that MONUSCO leave the country.
The Kishishe massacre occurred from November 29 to December 1, 2022, in the North Kivu village of Kishishe in the Rutshuru Territory in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The March 23 Movement, a predominantly Tutsi armed group, summarily killed at least 131 civilians in Kishishe following clashes with local militias, according to a preliminary United Nations investigation. At the same time, the Kinshasa authorities had previously reported approximately 300 fatalities. The attack also resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people who were forced to flee to other locations such as Kanyabayonga, Kibirizi, Kashala, Kirima, Nyanzale, Kashalira, Bambu, and Kitchanga. Some victims also sought refuge in neighboring countries due to the ongoing violence and instability in the region.
The Goma offensive was a military campaign launched by the March 23 Movement (M23), a Congolese rebel group that is part of the Congo River Alliance (AFC) and is supported by Rwanda, against the regional capital of Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It lasted from January 23 to January 30, 2025. The campaign was part of the larger M23 offensive in the North and South Kivu provinces of the DRC, which resumed in October 2024 after a pause. During January 2025 the M23 rebels made a rapid advance in the Kivu region, cutting off the road connections to the North Kivu provincial capital Goma by January 23 and arriving at the city on January 25.
The 2025 Kinshasa riots are a series of violent demonstrations that occurred on January 28, 2025 in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Multiple foreign diplomatic missions, including the embassies of the United States, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda, became targets of civil unrest as protesters expressed their opposition to perceived international inaction regarding M23 rebel advances in eastern DRC and Goma.
