GOMA, Jan 30 — The M23 rebels, who recently seized control of Goma, have rejected international calls for their withdrawal. Instead, they are determined to show they can restore order and govern the city.
By Thursday, essential services such as power and mobile data, which had been down due to the fighting, were restored. The border with Rwanda, crucial for Goma’s connectivity, was also reopened. M23 officials reported they had trained hundreds of local administrators ready to implement governance structures in the city.
“We are asking all Goma residents to return to normal activities,” said Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Alliance Fleuve Congo, the political coalition supporting M23. This came just days after heavy fighting left bodies in the streets and the city cut off from the outside world. Nangaa also pledged to reopen schools within 48 hours and create a humanitarian corridor for displaced people to return to their homes.
How well M23 governs Goma, a city of 2 million people, will be crucial in determining whether they can extend their control into other parts of eastern Congo, or if their hold will be short-lived, as it was in 2012. The city’s strategic significance, with its large population and role as a hub for humanitarian aid, presents a major challenge.
Since reawakening their insurgency three years ago, M23 has established “parallel administrations” in the areas they control. These efforts have included taxing civilians and businesses and setting up intelligence networks, according to U.N. experts. However, Goma is far more complex and presents a greater challenge than previous areas the group has controlled.
M23 officials admitted that lack of resources and trained personnel had hindered their ability to govern effectively in the past. However, following the breakdown of peace talks in Angola last year, they have been preparing more extensively to manage larger territories.
M23 is one of several Tutsi-led rebel groups that have operated in eastern Congo since the early 2000s. These groups emerged after the 2003 peace agreement aimed at ending the conflicts that devastated the region. The insurgents and the Congolese military have both been accused of committing human rights violations during recent clashes.
While many in Goma have protested Rwanda’s support of M23, anger has also been directed at Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, whose administration has lost more territory in the east than any previous government. His policy of deploying military governors to the region has failed to restore peace, fueling local discontent.
Many locals, frustrated with the chaos and insecurity, may turn to M23 if the group can provide stability and improve trade and daily life. “If they can trade, security improves, their daily lives improve, then M23 could be popular,” a senior U.N. official said.
Tshisekedi’s administration has also alienated many within the Congolese military and political circles, including those with ties to Rwanda. Experts believe these figures may now rally to M23’s cause, seeing it as an alternative to Tshisekedi’s leadership.
M23’s economic control has also been a factor in their growing influence. The group seized the Rubaya coltan mine, the largest in the Great Lakes region, in April last year. They have set up a taxation system there, generating an estimated $800,000 per month.
Diplomatic pressure is increasing on Rwanda to cut support for M23, but the group is committed to maintaining its control and governance structures in the areas it has seized.
