KINSHASA: The UN Security Council has urged Rwanda to withdraw its forces from eastern Congo and extended the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, known as MONUSCO, for a year, as fighting in the region escalated despite a US-mediated peace deal.
The UN’s most powerful body on Friday condemned an offensive by the Rwanda-backed M23, demanded Rwanda stop supporting the rebels and withdraw its troops. The Security Council also renewed the peacekeepers’ mandate, keeping about 11,500 military personnel in the country, in a unanimously adopted resolution.
The resolution comes as M23 claimed Wednesday to have withdrawn from Uvira, a strategic city in eastern Congo it seized last week, after pressure from the US Congo’s government said the withdrawal was “staged” and that the rebels were still in the city.
US deputy ambassador Jennifer Locetta told the Security Council on Friday that M23 must immediately withdraw at least 75 kilometers (47 miles) away from Uvira.
M23 took control of the city last week in a deadly offensive that came despite a US-mediated peace agreement signed earlier this month by the Congolese and Rwandan presidents in Washington.
The accord didn’t include the rebel group, which is negotiating separately with Congo and agreed earlier this year to a ceasefire that both sides accuse the other of violating. However, the accord obliges Rwanda to halt support for armed groups like M23 and work to end hostilities.
Congo, the US and UN experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which has grown from hundreds of members in 2021 to around 6,500 fighters, according to the UN
More than 100 armed groups are vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo, near the border with Rwanda, most prominently M23. The conflict has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises, with more than 7 million people displaced, according to the UN agency for refugees.
The MONUSCO force arrived in Congo in 2010, after taking over from an earlier UN peacekeeping mission to protect civilians and humanitarian personnel and to support the Congolese government in its stabilization and peace consolidation efforts.
However, frustrated Congolese have said that no one is protecting them from rebel attacks, leading to protests against the UN mission and others that have at times turned deadly.
In 2023, at Congo’s request, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to draw down the peacekeeping force and gradually hand over its security responsibilities to Congo’s government.
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UN urges Rwanda to leave eastern Congo and extends peacekeeping mission for a year
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UN urges Rwanda to leave eastern Congo and extends peacekeeping mission for a year
- The UN condemned an offensive by the Rwanda-backed M23, demanded Rwanda stop supporting the rebels and withdraw its troops
Deadly militant offensive sweeps northern and eastern Burkina Faso
- Burkina Faso, ruled by a military junta since September 2022, has faced more than 10 years of raids by groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh
ABIDJAN: Al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM has in recent days claimed to have inflicted heavy losses in Burkina Faso as a surge in deadly militant attacks sweeps across the Sahelian state.
Burkina Faso, ruled by a military junta since September 2022, has faced more than 10 years of raids by groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh, including the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).
A February UN Security Council report noted that the “pace of JNIM attacks” had slowed in September as fighters were diverted to Mali to back an attempted fuel blockade.
“The group’s efforts in Mali have been the primary focus since early September last year,” said Heni Nsaibia, analyst at conflict monitor ACLED.
But attacks never fully stopped, and JNIM has launched a string of large-scale assaults in northern and eastern Burkina Faso since mid-February, killing dozens, including civilians.
“Since February 14, JNIM has claimed responsibility for 10 attacks across different regions of Burkina Faso,” said Hasret Kargin, an Africa studies researcher at intelligence firm Mintel World.
Deadly assaults
The deadliest incidents targeted Titao’s military base on February 15 in the northwest, where the group says it killed dozens of soldiers.
A separate ambush on the same day left around 50 forestry officers dead in Tandjari in the east.
Around 10 civilians were also killed in Titao, including seven Ghanaian traders.
“This latest round demonstrated a high degree of coordination, given the number of large-scale attacks that occurred between 12 and 22 February,” Nsaibia said.
“Over 130 people” — Burkinabe soldiers, civilian auxiliaries and JNIM fighters — “were killed in this series of battles.”
Kargin noted that JNIM has issued no formal statement explaining the recent uptick after several months of reduced activity.
But militant groups often strike “right before and during” the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, he said, adding current dry-season conditions had helped them on the ground.
‘Smuggling zones’
Recent attacks have gripped the country’s north and east, areas seen as financial hubs for Al-Qaeda’s Sahel branch.
“These are zones with numerous gold sites and key routes that fuel the group’s smuggling activities,” a Burkinabe security analyst said, requesting anonymity.
The north “acts as a bridge” to JNIM’s “main central command” in Mali, Kargin said, while he east — home to a vast nature reserve straddling Niger, Benin and Burkina Faso — allows the group to push into neighboring countries.
The forests, he added, both shield fighters from airstrikes and generate income through illegal timber sales and control of artisanal gold mining.
The Tandjari attack near regional capital Fada N’Gourma highlights JNIM’s growing freedom of movement after having “gained a lot of ground in recent years,” Nsaibia said.
“The question is not the frequency of attacks — they never stopped — but how these groups are able to inflict such heavy losses” when the army claims to be better equipped and better organized, said a Burkinabe political scientist.
The army, which rarely comments on attacks, said in mid-February it now controls 74 percent of national territory, with some “600 villages retaken.”
According to the UN report, JNIM recently appointed a senior leader in eastern Burkina Faso tasked with expanding into Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Niger and Togo.
Burkina Faso, ruled by a military junta since September 2022, has faced more than 10 years of raids by groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh, including the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).
A February UN Security Council report noted that the “pace of JNIM attacks” had slowed in September as fighters were diverted to Mali to back an attempted fuel blockade.
“The group’s efforts in Mali have been the primary focus since early September last year,” said Heni Nsaibia, analyst at conflict monitor ACLED.
But attacks never fully stopped, and JNIM has launched a string of large-scale assaults in northern and eastern Burkina Faso since mid-February, killing dozens, including civilians.
“Since February 14, JNIM has claimed responsibility for 10 attacks across different regions of Burkina Faso,” said Hasret Kargin, an Africa studies researcher at intelligence firm Mintel World.
Deadly assaults
The deadliest incidents targeted Titao’s military base on February 15 in the northwest, where the group says it killed dozens of soldiers.
A separate ambush on the same day left around 50 forestry officers dead in Tandjari in the east.
Around 10 civilians were also killed in Titao, including seven Ghanaian traders.
“This latest round demonstrated a high degree of coordination, given the number of large-scale attacks that occurred between 12 and 22 February,” Nsaibia said.
“Over 130 people” — Burkinabe soldiers, civilian auxiliaries and JNIM fighters — “were killed in this series of battles.”
Kargin noted that JNIM has issued no formal statement explaining the recent uptick after several months of reduced activity.
But militant groups often strike “right before and during” the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, he said, adding current dry-season conditions had helped them on the ground.
‘Smuggling zones’
Recent attacks have gripped the country’s north and east, areas seen as financial hubs for Al-Qaeda’s Sahel branch.
“These are zones with numerous gold sites and key routes that fuel the group’s smuggling activities,” a Burkinabe security analyst said, requesting anonymity.
The north “acts as a bridge” to JNIM’s “main central command” in Mali, Kargin said, while he east — home to a vast nature reserve straddling Niger, Benin and Burkina Faso — allows the group to push into neighboring countries.
The forests, he added, both shield fighters from airstrikes and generate income through illegal timber sales and control of artisanal gold mining.
The Tandjari attack near regional capital Fada N’Gourma highlights JNIM’s growing freedom of movement after having “gained a lot of ground in recent years,” Nsaibia said.
“The question is not the frequency of attacks — they never stopped — but how these groups are able to inflict such heavy losses” when the army claims to be better equipped and better organized, said a Burkinabe political scientist.
The army, which rarely comments on attacks, said in mid-February it now controls 74 percent of national territory, with some “600 villages retaken.”
According to the UN report, JNIM recently appointed a senior leader in eastern Burkina Faso tasked with expanding into Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Niger and Togo.
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