Rwanda, the ‘Donor Darling’ of the West, takes an opportunity in the Congo

After the rebels backed by Rwanda took the Congolese of rubber in 2012, the powerful nations worldwide recorded their disapproval, announcing sanctions against Rwanda and other measures that led to the defeat of the rebels a year later.

When those same rebels fought to capture rubber on Sunday, several nations once again expressed their criticism, but they have not yet applied the level of pressure on Rwanda that finally led the rebels to retire more than a decade ago.

As hundreds of thousands of civilians fled from growing violence in recent days, seeking a rubber sanctuary, the rebel group M23 was right behind them. M23, that the United Nations and others say that it is financed and armed by Rwanda, declared that it had captured early rubber on Monday.

Now, with the fate of the city in balance, analysts say that a conflict that could be domesticated with strong international pressure against Rwanda is, however, being out of control. Rwanda has up to 4,000 troops in the east of the Congo that support the progress of the M23, the United Nations experts say. The Government of Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda, seems to be with the intention of rewriting the Congo map by confiscating the land, and until now, beyond the issuance of reprimands, Western countries have barely gathered an answer.

Mr. Kagame has denied that Randanda is Armando M23, or that his troops are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He says that M23 simply defends the rights of the minority tutsis of the Congo: the ethnic group of Mr. Kagame, which was the main objective of the Rwanda genocide in 1994. Most analysts say that this is a pretext to occupy the Congolese territory and loot its vast mineral wealth.

In a call with President Felix Tshisekedi del Congo on Monday, Secretary of State Frame State Department.

The United Kingdom and France had previously condemned the presence of Rwanda in the east of the Congo. Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General, Monday called For the first time for Rwanda’s troops to retire from the east of the Congo.

But Mr. Kagame’s small central African nation has spent the last decade reinforcing its reputation among the western powers, which makes it too useful to sanction quickly, some analysts say. The European Union signed a strategic mineral agreement with Rwanda last year, which caused accusations of rights groups that are feeding the conflict.

Rwanda, with a population of only 14 million people, Currently contributes The second highest number of peace maintenance personnel before the United Nations. From 2021, his troops rejected a jihadist insurgency in a Mozambique area where a French oil giant has a gas project of $ 20 billion. Rwanda also has It is shown to willpower Take asylum applicants from Europe, offering to help address a problem that has fed the extreme right movements of that continent.

And for years, Western donors have seen Ruanda as the example of the textbook of how to obtain correct aid, using help to take advantage of economic growth and development while designing in themselves Singapore of Africa.

“The powerful Western countries have been reluctant for punishing Rwanda, which cultivated a reputation as a beloved donor,” said Dino Mahtani, former advice of the UN peace maintenance mission in the Congo. “While some finally demand that Kagame withdraw support to M23, they are unlikely to take measures against what they see as the military solution against jihadists in Mozambique.”

Congo, on the other hand, has been regularly ruled out as a Hopeless caseto helpless giant In Africa, he was stunned by a series of wars, plagued by corruption and suffering.

And suffering is overwhelming.

Holding a little baby and trying to keep his other children nearby, Sifa Kiggo arrived in rubber on Sunday, just before the rebel acquisition, without anywhere to go. He had given birth only five days before, but when the fight broke out in his town, he had to run.

Millions of Congolese such as Mrs. Kiggo have been forced to leave their homes, with several hundred thousands displaced only last week. The bombs have fallen in the camps destined to house them. Sexual violence, used for a long time as a weapon of war in Congo, has lately increased abruptly, reaching record levels Last year, after M23 began its most recent impulse.

“When will the international community stop the international community to the Congolese tragedy and accept or tolerate systematic violations of international law and human rights?” asked Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist who has treated thousands of victims of rape in Congo and won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize.

More than 21 million people in the Congo, approximately one fifth of the population, need help. But humanitarian workers warn that the actions of the new Trump administration could dive into the crisis more deeply. After assuming the position, President Trump issued an executive order that directed a freezing of 90 days in almost all foreign aid, waiting for a review. Last year 68.8 percent of All humanitarian aid In the Congo wine from the United States.

It is also Rwanda greater bilateral donorGiving more than $ 188 million to the country in 2023. Now that aid has been arrested, the United States can be in a weaker position to influence Rwanda, according to some analysts.

In 2012, following the first rubber occupation of M23, President Barack Obama called Mr. Kagame and urged him to stop supporting the rebels.

More recently, Western nations have taken some measures against M23: in 2023, the United States and the European Union tax sanctions to some Rwandan and Congolese military commanders involved in the conflict, and the United States suspended Military aid to Rwanda last year.

On Tuesday, the German Development Ministry suspended help conversations with Rwanda officials. But many Congolese, including protesters in multiple cities this week, say that the EU and the United States must do more to stop Mr. Kagame.

The exploitation of Rwanda of the rare Minerals of Congo has been detailed in multiple reports of the United Nations. Last year, M23 confiscated an area around the Congolese city of Rubay that is rich in Coltan, a mineral used in cell phones and computers.

UN experts said in December that at least 150 tons of Coltan were illegally exported to Rwanda and mixed with Rwanda production. Last month, the Congo filed criminal complaints in France and Belgium against Apple subsidiaries, accusing it of using conflict minerals obtained in the Congo.

Analysts say that M23, under the guide of Rwanda, is looking to occupy the long -term Congo, behave so that it suggests that it plans to establish an administrative state, raise taxes and impose fines on residents. “This seems to be a long territorial acquisition game,” said Mahtani, a former UN Mission of Maintenance Mission of the UN.

In the capital of Congo, Kinshasa, on Tuesday, Anti-Rwanda protesters attacked several foreign embassies and a United Nations building in an eruption of anger before the allies of Congo for not stopping the progress of M23. The protests also exploded in Bukavu, a larger city south of the rubber to which it is believed that some Congolese officers fled. Many of Bukavu residents fear that they are the next goal of the rebels.

Some observers see the peace conversations organized by nations in the region, including Angola, as the best hope to end violence. The Rubio Secretary said Monday that negotiations should restart as soon as possible. President William Ruto de Kenia said Tuesday that Mr. Kagame and Mr. Tshisekedi agreed to attend an emergency summit on Wednesday to address the situation.

While those discussions take over, hundreds of thousands of terrified people who covered themselves in rubber have where to go.

Even those who have sleeping beds have not slept, said Maina King’ori, the regional humanitarian director of the Care International agency, who described hearing constant shots in the city. “They have just been awake, waiting for contained breathing, wondering what follows,” he said.

Elian Peltier Contributed reports.