The leader of the M23 whose career traces the agitation in Rwanda and Dr. Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is in agitation: the combatants of the notorious rebel group M23 have been emerging from the east of the country, fighting the National Army and capturing key places as they advance.

In just fifteen days, it is said that thousands of people were killed and the fight has caused an ominous war of words between Dr. Congo and his neighbor, Rwanda.

So how did Dr Congo, the largest country in sub -Saharan Africa?

The origins of this complex conflict can be understood through the history of a man: the leader of the M23, Sultani Makenga, who is the subject of several accusations of war crime.

Returning through Makenga’s life so far is to analyze decades of war, intermittent foreign intervention and the persistent attraction of Dr. Congo’s rich mineral resources.

His life began on Christmas day of 1973, when he was born in the exuberant Congolese city of Masisi.

Raised by the parents of the Tutsi ethnic group, Makenga resigned from school at the age of 17 to join a rebel team Tutsi through the Rwanda border.

This group, called Patriotic Front of Rwanda (RPF), demanded a greater Tutsi representation in the Rwanda government, which was at that time dominated by the politicians of the majority Hutu.

They also wanted the hundreds and thousands of Tutsi refugees who had been forced to the country for ethnic violence could return home.

For four years, Makenga and the RPF fought against the army dominated by Hutu in Rwanda. His battle was entangled with the Genocide of 1994When Hutu extremists killed 800,000 tutsis and moderate Hutus.

When looking back at this time in a 2013 rare interviewMakenga declared: “My life is war, my education is war and my language is war … but respect peace.”

The RPF gradually seized more and more lands before leaving towards the capital of Rwanda, Kigali, and overthrowing the extremist government of Hutu, many of which fled to what is now Dr Congo.

With the RPF in Power, Makenga was absorbed by the official Rwanda army and went up to the range of sergeant and powered squad.

“It was very good establishing ambushes,” said one of Makenga’s fellow RPF fighters to Rift Valley Institute Non -profit research organization.

However, his progress in the Rwanda army hit a roof. The fact that he only had a basic education and spoke French and English was “an obstacle to his military career,” said the Rift Valley Institute.

It is also said that Makenga, to this day, is very reserved and struggle to speak in public.

In 1997, he was part of the forces backed by Rwanda that ended up holding power in Dr. Congo, expelling the long -standing ruler Mobutu Sese Seko. Instead they installed the veteran Congolese rebel leader Laurent Kabila.

However, Makenga began to face his superiors: he was arrested by the Randa UN Security Council Report saying.

Therefore, he was imprisoned for several years on the island of Iwawa.

Meanwhile, the relations between Kabila and the new leaders of Rwanda deteriorated.

Ruanda had tried to crush Hutu’s militiamen who were responsible for the genocide, but had fled through the border in 1994. Rwanda’s fear was that they could return and alter the stability gained with force of the country.

But Kabila could not prevent the militants from organizing and also began to expel the troops of Rwanda.

As a result, Rwanda invaded Dr Congo in 1998. When Makenga was released from prison, he was appointed to serve as commander in the front line with a rebel group backed by Rwanda.

Over the years, he won the reputation of being highly strategic and skilled to command large groups of soldiers to battle.

After Rwanda troops crossed Dr Congo, there was an increase in discrimination against the Tutsi community. Kabila claimed that Tutsis supported the invasion, while other officials incited the public to attack the members of the ethnic group.

Makenga, even in Dr. Congo, accused the Congolese leader of betraying the Tutsi fighters, saying: “Kabila was a policy, while I am. I am a soldier and the language I know is that of the weapon.”

Several neighboring countries had been attracted to the conflict and a great UN military force was deployed to try to maintain order.

It is believed that more than five million people died in the war and its consequences, mainly due to hunger or disease.

The fight officially ended in 2003, but Makenga continued to serve in armed groups opposed to the Congolese government.

In the spirit of reconciliation, the Tutsi rebels as Makenga were finally amalgamated in the armed forces of the Congolese government, in a process called “mixture.”

But the political sands in Dr. Congo are changing: Makenga finally defected the army to join the growing M23 rebellion.

The M23 had become increasingly active in eastern Dr Congo, stating that they were fighting to protect the rights of the Tutsi, and that the government had not fulfilled a peace agreement signed in 2009.

Makenga was elevated to the range of a general M23, then shortly after, the upper position.

In November 2012 he led the rebels in a brutal uprising, in which they captured the rubber city, an important eastern city with a population of more than one million.

Dr. Congo and the UN accused the government dominated by the Rwanda Tutsi to support the M23, an accusation that Kigali has persistently denied. But recently, the official response has changed, with government spokesmen who claim that fighting near its border is a security threat.

For 2012, Makenga and others in the M23 faced serious accusations of war crimes. The United States imposed sanctions against him, saying that he was responsible for “the recruitment of soldiers and violence campaigns against civilians.” Makenga said the accusations that used soldiers used M23 used “without foundation.”

In other places, the UN said that he had committed and was responsible for acts such as killing and mutilating, sexual violence and kidnapping.

Together with asset freezing, Makenga faced a bitter division within M23. One side he supported him as a leader while the other supported his rival, Bosco ntaganda genus.

The project sufficientA non -profit group working in Dr Congo, said the two factions descended to a “complete war” in 2013 and, as a result, three soldiers and eight civilians died.

Makenga’s side triumphed and the genua fled to Rwanda, where he surrendered to the United States embassy.

Nicknamed the “Terminator” for his cruelty, the genuine was Finally sentenced by the International Criminal Court (CC) for 30 years for crimes of war.

However, months after Makenga’s triumph, another biggest threat appeared. The UN had deployed a force of 3,000 people with a mandate to support the Congolese army to claim rubber, which led to M23 to retire.

The rebel group was expelled from the country and Makenga fled to Uganda, a country that has also been accused of supporting M23, an accusation that denies.

Uganda received an extradition request from Dr Congo Makenga, but did not act accordingly.

Eight years passed. Dozens of other armed groups wandered through the east rich in minerals, causing ravages, but the Congolese authorities were free of the most notorious militants.

That is, until 2021.

Makenga and his rebels again took arms, capturing territory in the province of northern Kivu.

Several cessation of fire between the M23 and the Congolese authorities have failed, and last year a judge sentenced to Makenga until death in absence.

During the last advance of the M23, in which it is said that the rebels are supported by thousands of troops from Rwanda, Makenga has barely been seen in public.

On the other hand, he leaves the speeches and public statements to his spokesman, and Corneille Nangaa, who directs an alliance of rebel groups, including the M23.

But Makenga is still a key player, who seems to focus on the strategy behind the scene.

He has said that his relentless struggle has been for his three children, “so that one day they have a better future in this country.”

“It shouldn’t be seen as a man who doesn’t want peace. I have a heart, a family and people who care,” he said.

But millions of common people are paying the price of this conflict and if it is captured by the Congolese forces, Makenga faces the death penalty.

Yes, it is not unchanged.

“I’m willing to sacrifice everything,” he said.