What is happening in D. R. Congo?

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is suffering a humanitarian crisis caused by armed conflict. At least 7,000 people have died and up to 80,000 have fled the country. Many Christians are among the dead and the displaced, including those targeted by the Islamic State Central Africa Province. There seems to be no sign of an end to the violence.

Who is fighting in D. R. Congo?

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has gone through many crises before. Poverty and brutality has often been the experience of many in this Christian-majority country. Yet the violence that flared up in the opening months of 2025 is among the worst the country has known.

The main driver of the recent conflict is the M23 Movement. On 27 January 2025 the M23 seized Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province. Less than a month later its fighters had also taken Bukavu, the capital of neighbouring South Kivu.

M23 fighters are accused of massacring civilians in the areas they control. Their leaders have spoken of marching to Kinshasa, the capital city, many miles to the west. Even if that scenario is unlikely, the chaos in DRC’s north-eastern provinces has led to fears of a coup against the existing government.

Who are the M23?

The M23 Movement (the name refers to March 23 – the date of a peace agreement signed in 2009 that the group rejects) claims to be defending the rights of the Tutsi ethnic minority.

The group was founded in 2012 and waged an armed rebellion against the Congolese authorities across North Kivu in the months that followed. The rebellion was unsuccessful, and the group was largely dormant until November 2021, when it received backing from neighbouring Rwanda.

The government of Rwanda denies any role in supporting M23, but international experts believe that the rebel group is backed by 3-4,000 Rwandan troops.

Are Christians being targeted in D. R. Congo?

International observers believe that as many as 7,000 people have died since M23 began its advance in January, including 3,000 in the Goma area alone. Doubtless many believers are among them, but the M23 is not targeting Christians.

Christians, however, are being targeted by another armed group, the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP).

ISCAP (then known as the Allied Democratic Forces) first pledged bay’a (allegiance) to the central Islamic State in 2017. Since then the terrorist group has killed almost 6,000 Christians in North Kivu and the neighbouring province of Ituri.

These killings are often the subject of posts on Islamic State social media channels, in which the terrorists boast of killing “infidel Christians”. Barnabas Aid contacts say that the victims are sometimes given the opportunity to convert to Islam and save their lives. Many refuse, and are slaughtered.

ISCAP has taken advantage of the chaos caused by the M23 rebellion to increase the scope and scale of its attacks. At least 287 believers have been killed in targeted assaults since Christmas 2024. This figure doesn’t include 70 Christians beheaded in Lubero, North Kivu, an incident that Barnabas Aid contacts believe took place in September 2024.   

Why is there fighting in D. R. Congo?

Many armed groups in north-eastern DRC are motivated by the country’s vast mineral wealth and the financial opportunities it affords, as are both regional powers such as Rwanda and global powers such as the United States and China.

Since April 2024 the M23 Movement has controlled mining areas known to be rich in minerals such as coltan, from which is derived tantalum, a key component in laptops, phones and other electronic devices.

International experts estimate that M23-controlled areas produce 120 tonnes of coltan each month, which is exported to Rwanda. This allows the M23 administration to earn US$800,000 through taxes on miners and traders. The group is accused of using forced labour to widen roads in the region so that lorries and trucks can pass.

Forced labour is a long-term problem in the DRC mining industry, especially in the euphemistically named artisanal mining sector – that is, the unofficial or unregulated sector. An estimated 40,000 children are working in mines in southern DRC, some of whom are the victims of trafficking.

Even in official mines, conditions for all miners are dangerous, with cave-ins and other disasters a constant risk. The mines remain places of violence – church leaders who seek to minister to the miners face fearful reprisals if they are seen to disrupt work. Efforts to reform the sector have led to little, if any, change.

Humanitarian crisis in D. R. Congo

Along with the 7,000 deaths that have been reported as a result of the conflict, as many as 80,000 people have fled the country. Hundreds of thousands more are internally displaced (it was estimated that before January there were already 7.3 million internally displaced people in DRC).

The DRC is also suffering desperate food poverty. As of June 2024 it was estimated that around 25 million people – about a quarter of the population – are experiencing “crisis” or even more severe levels of hunger. This includes 6.2 million in the three provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri.

The situation will have greatly worsened in the past few months as supply lines are cut off by M23 and other armed groups, fighters and others steal livestock and crops, farmers are forced from their lands, and humanitarian access becomes more difficult.

Sadly, overlapping crises – poverty, food shortages, civil war, Islamist terrorism, human rights abuses – have the potential to cause tens of thousands of deaths and ruin innumerable lives.