5/6/2025 DRC (International Christian Concern) — Massad Boulos, a senior official in the U.S. Department of State focused on Africa affairs, announced this week that the DRC and Rwanda have submitted a draft peace proposal that may help to ease years of bloodshed in eastern DRC, where Rwanda-backed militants have made significant gains in recent months. Millions of civilians are currently displaced due to the fighting, and thousands have been killed since January.

The proposed peace deal is unlikely to bring total peace to the region, even if it is finalized and both parties abide by its terms. About 120 separate militant groups are active in the country, suggesting that even a peace deal with Rwanda may not be enough to stabilize the situation.

According to the U.N., more than half a million civilians have fled as M23, a militant group backed by the Rwandan government and bolstered by a reported 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan soldiers, has advanced on North and South Kivu and seized their provincial capitals. Civilian displacement sites have been targeted by artillery, causing deaths and widespread suffering.

Though Rwanda denies supporting M23, years of evidence have proved that Rwanda is deeply involved in supporting the group’s activities.

Another active group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), is aligned with the jihadist Islamic State movement and is known for its brutal tactics and hostility toward Christianity, the predominant religion in the DRC.

In February, local sources revealed the massacre of 70 Christians in DRC’s eastern Lubero Territory near the country’s border with Uganda and Rwanda. Reports quickly indicated that the ADF was responsible.

Members of the militia reportedly detained many Christian villagers before tying them up in a local protestant church and decapitating them with machetes.

U.N. peacekeepers in the country are working to protect hundreds of thousands of displaced people, but have experienced increasing difficulty in executing their mission in recent months because of rebel advances.

In recent years, the U.N. mission has become increasingly unpopular with Congolese government leaders. In December 2023, the U.N. Security Council approved the withdrawal after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi requested a fast-tracked withdrawal some months earlier.

The U.N. mission, known as MONUSCO, began to withdraw from the country in February 2024. MONUSCO has worked in the country for more than 13 years and before the drawdown boasted nearly 18,000 personnel including about 14,000 armed troops. Recent terrorist victories seem to be partially a result of the power vacuum left by the forced U.N. withdrawal.
The first phase of withdrawal was focused on bases in South Kivu province, with U.N. troops leaving Ituri and North Kivu province, where the violence is concentrated, later in 2024.

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