Link to Artical: https://apnews.com/article/congo-attack-rebel-group-m23-rwanda-dca682425eaa0177ec1981ee307043ea
Summary: A rebel group called M23 killed 11 people in the Republic of Congo. The United Nations accused this terrorist group of being linked to Rwanda. The M23 group became prominent 10 years ago after capturing Goma, a large city that borders Rwanda. Rwanda denies the accusations of M23 being linked to them. M23 reportedly entered the area, killed citizens, and burned homes. Conflict in Congo has been prevalent for years and continues to displace millions of their citizens daily. Islamic State groups also continue to invade Congo, with one recent invasion killing 10 citizens, this group being called Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF. Social Activists in Congo called on their government to take action on these attacks.
Analysis: Threats to the safety of citizens in Congo could cause havoc, many activists view their government as not taking action on this issue, and this could cause internal problems with citizens in their country. This idea leads to the possibility of protests against the government if the people don’t feel protected. Another threat that Congo runs into with this issue is the relationships with surrounding countries that are getting accused of these terrorist groups being connected. Some governments could be angered by these threatening accusations especially with the UN being involved. This could be detrimental to their relationship with Rwanda seeing as Rwanda and Congo hold a strong relationship through trading, and already have a tense relationship through the military due to past issues with the M23 terrorist group.
Connections to Class: This walking on a tightrope is a relationship between two countries we’ve seen numerous times, especially between militaries. The heightening of tensions between these two countries has been growing for years since the M23 overtake and has led to conflicts in the past much like past military conflicts with major world powers. While on a smaller scale, a conflict between these two countries could be detrimental to the economy in sub-Saharan Africa. Alongside this Congo’s struggle with other terrorist groups from other surrounding countries could keep tensions high and leave Congo as a focal point for future attacks.