Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his Congolese counterpart, Felix Tshisekedi, participated in a regional summit in Tanzania on Saturday, where East African and Southern African leaders urged an immediate ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The M23 rebel group, reportedly backed by Rwanda, has launched a major offensive, rapidly seizing territory in eastern DRC.
The strategic city of Goma, North Kivu’s capital, fell to the rebels last week, and M23 is now advancing toward South Kivu, causing mass displacement and raising fears of further instability.
During the summit in Dar es Salaam, Kenyan President William Ruto, who chairs the East African Community (EAC), called on M23 to halt its advance and urged the Congolese military to cease retaliatory strikes.
Several regional leaders, including those from Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, attended in person, while Tshisekedi joined via video call.
The DRC accuses Rwanda of supporting M23 militarily, a claim Kigali denies. A UN report last year alleged Rwanda had 4,000 troops inside the DRC and was profiting from smuggling gold and coltan, a crucial mineral for electronics.
Meanwhile, Rwanda claims the DRC harbors the FDLR, a militia formed by Hutu extremists responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
As M23 pushes toward the South Kivu town of Kavumu, panic has set in at the provincial capital, Bukavu, near the Rwandan border. Residents report shops barricading their fronts, schools suspending classes, and chaotic scenes at the border crossing.
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk has warned of worsening conditions, reporting nearly 3,000 confirmed deaths and alarming allegations of rape, gang rape, and sexual slavery since M23 seized Goma on January 26.
The group has already installed its own administration in the city and has vowed to advance toward Kinshasa, despite the vast 1,600-kilometer distance to the national capital.
The ongoing conflict has heightened fears of a wider regional war, with countries like South Africa, Burundi, and Malawi actively supporting the Congolese government militarily.
