M23 militia takes root in DRC

MOVING IN: CREATES PARALLEL ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURES TO THOSE OF KINSHASA GOVT

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While a peace deal is proving slow to take effect on the ground, the M23 armed group is consolidating its political and economic hold on the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

It is recruiting officials and imposing taxes, as well as training judges, soldiers and police to create parallel administrative structures to those of the Kinshasa government.

Eastern DRC, rich in mineral resources and bordering Rwanda, has been riven by conflict for more than 30 years.

The crisis intensified with the 2021 resurgence of M23, a Rwandan-backed armed group fighting the Kinshasa authorities, and came to a head early this year when the militia seized the key cities of Goma and Bukavu.

M23 subsequently found itself in control of a vast territory where everything needs to be rebuilt.

The government has shut banks and most other administrative services in the volatile east and many civil servants have fled.

M23, whose stated aim is to overthrow the government of President Felix Tshisekedi, plans to “establish a new model of administration based on transparency and efficiency”, the leader of its political wing, Corneille Nangaa, said in late September.