What is the fight in rubber?

The east rich in minerals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been pursued by the conflict for more than 30 years, from the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

Numerous armed groups have competed with the central authorities for the power and control of potential fortune in this vast nation.

Instability has absorbed in neighboring countries with a devastating effect, notoriously in the 1990s, when two huge conflicts, called World Wars in Africa, resulted in the death of millions of people.

After a rapid advance in the east, the fighters of the M23 rebel group have captured a series of cities and key towns.

His first big blow was at the end of January with rubber taking, a city in the province of North Kivu that houses more than one million people.

Sitting on the border with Rwanda and the coasts of Lake Kivu, rubber is a vital center of trade and transport that is within reach of mining cities that supply metals and minerals with great demand.

When the rebels took over rubber, UN help agencies warned about an important humanitarian crisis with food and water scarcity, hospitals overwhelmed by victims and bodies found in the streets.

The M23 has also seized another key city in the region, the provincial capital of southern Kivu, Bukavu.

Other locations now under M23 control include Masis, Rutshuru and Katale.

The rebels previously threatened to continue their offensive towards the capital, Kinshasa, although analysts say that this can be unlikely, since the city is 2,600 km (1,600 miles) away, on the other side of this vast country.

The M23 are led by ethnic tutsis, which say they needed to take arms to protect the rights of the minority group.

They say that several previous agreements have been respected to end the fighting: they take their name from a peace agreement that was signed on March 23, 2009.

Shortly after its creation in 2012, the M23 quickly won territory and seized rubber, acts that met international opprobrium and accusations of war crimes and human rights violations.

He was forced to retire from rubber, and then suffered a series of strong defeats at the hands of the Congolese army along with a UN force that saw him expelled from the country.

M23 combatants agreed to be integrated into the army in exchange for promises that the tutsis would be protected.

But, in 2021, the group took arms again, saying that the promises had broken.

The leader of the M23, Sultani Makenga, is a Congolese Tutsi who previously fought in the Rwanda army.

In the past, Rwanda has constantly denied to support the M23, but since 2012, UN experts have accused him of providing weapons, logistical support and even ultimately under the command of the rebels.

The government of Dr. Congo, as well as the United States and France, have also identified Rwanda as support of the group. Last year, a report by UN experts said that up to 4,000 Rwanda troops were fighting next to M23.

On Friday, the spokesman of the government of Rwanda, Yolande Makolo, told the BBC that the country’s troops were deployed along its border to prevent the conflict from spilling to its territory.

Ruanda said previously that he was being scape and blamed for the recent fight to the Congolese authorities, saying that they had refused to enter a dialogue with the M23.

A peace process, mediated by Angola and involving Rwanda and Dr. Congo, resulted in a high fire agreement last year, however, that soon fell apart and the fight resumed.

The origin of the current struggle dates back to the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.

Around 800,000 people, the vast majority of the Tutsi community, were killed by Hutu ethnic extremists.

The genocide ended with the progress of a rebel force led by Tutsi commanded by Paul Kagame, who is now president.

Fearing reprisals, it is estimated that one million hutus fled across the border towards what is now Dr Congo. This fueled ethnic tensions as a marginalized Tutsi group in the East, the Banyamulge, felt more and more threatened.

The Rwanda army invaded Dr Congo twice, saying that he was after some of those responsible for the genocide, and worked with members of Banyameng and other armed groups.

After 30 years of conflict, one of the Hutu groups, the democratic forces for the liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which includes some of those responsible for the Rwanda genocide, is still active in the east of the DR Congo.

Rwanda describes the FDLR as a “genocidal militia” and says that its continuous existence in the east of Dr. Congo threatens its own territory. Rwanda spokesman said he wanted to return to Ruanda to “finish the job.”

It accuses the Congolese authorities of working with the accusations of FDLR that Dr Congo denies.

It is unlikely that Rwanda remains outside Dr. Congo unless he is satisfied that the FDLR is no longer a threat to herself, or for the Tutsi communities in the east of the DR Congo.

Dr. Congo and multiple UN reports have accused Rwanda of using the conflict as a way of looting Congolese minerals, such as gold and coltan, which is used to make mobile phones and other electronic items such as cameras and internal cars.

In recent years, the M23 has seized several lucrative mining areas and a UN Report of experts last December said that the M23 sent around 120 tons of coltan to Rwanda every four weeks.

They also noticed a great increase in Rwanda mineral exports in recent years, most of which are believed to come from DR Congo.

Ruanda has constantly denied the accusations of exploiting Dr Congo minerals.

A UN Paz maintenance mission has been extended since 1999. The current force, known as Monusco, is composed of more than 10,000 troops.

However, of these, only the force intervention brigade can carry out offensive operations against armed groups. It was this force that helped defeat M23 in 2013.

Monusco has been the objective of the wrath of the ordinary Congolese that sees him as not doing his job. President Félix Tshisekedi, considering that the mission was a failure, had asked him to leave at the end of last year.

But the game was delayed and in December the mission extended for another year.

The South Africa Development Community (SADC), a regional group from 16 countries, has also deployed a military force east of the DR Congo, but has not been able to stop the rebels.

South Africa has said that 14 of his soldiers have died in clashes with the M23. The soldiers of Los Malawi and Tanzania have also been killed.

Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, He warned Rwanda that more attacks against his troops would be considered a “declaration of war”.

The president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, replied, accusing South Africa of being part of a “belligerent force” involved in “offensive combat operations.”

The UN said that Uruguay had lost one of its soldiers who was part of the Monusco force.