On the 23rd of March 2009, the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) signed a peace accord with the DRC’s government. This agreement legitimised the CNDP as a political party, and the M23 soldiers (which were part of the revolutionary CNDP) integrated into the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC). The M23 insurgency gets its name from the date of the peace accords. However, a 2012 peace agreement ousted the M23 from the FARDC and mutiny has ensued.
The March 23 Movement is also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army and is primarily based in the east of the DRC. In fact, the M23 insurgency operates most often in the North Kivu province and even took control of Goma (a city in North Kivu) in 2012. The insurgency group eventually abandoned the city and engaged in peace talks after being suppressed by the DRC’s troops — which were aided by UN troops.
After the M23 rebellion in 2012, the insurgency group conducted its 2022 offensive, where it entered North Kivu once again and fought against the FARDC and MONUSCO (UN peacekeepers in the DRC). The controversy behind this insurgency group has resulted from reports revealing that Rwanda is actively supporting, funding, and training the rebels. As Rwanda profits heavily from minerals found in the East of the DRC, its support for the M23 rebels mitigates the control by the national government over these resources.
NOTE: This article will be updated soon.
