Link to article: https://allafrica.com/stories/202409130233.html
Hugh Kinsella Cuningham, a British photographer, highlights the displacement crisis within the Democratic Republic of Congo through his photographs. Cuningham aims to shed light on the M23 conflict which has been overlooked for too long. The March 23 Movement, also known as M23, has laid dormant in the eastern parts of the DRC for over a decade. Towards the end of 2021, the Rwandan government and militia began to rearm the M23, leading the group to resume raids into the DRC. Despite Rwanda’s many denials of arming the M23, there is clear evidence illustrating their support including the fact that there were reported Rwandan soldiers sent to fight alongside the M23 troops. Civilians in displacement camps within North Kivu, have been forced to live amid the fighting between government forces and the M23. Cuningham has stated that there is a front line of artillery positions surrounding the city of Goma and airstrikes have been ongoing, killing many civilians. In the past three years, close to seven million civilians have been displaced by the DRC conflicts with around one million in the North Kivu province alone.
This conflict stems all the way back to the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi ending in over 800,000 deaths in just 100 days. The M23 is made up primarily of Tutsis and opposes the Hutu Power militia Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda. This armed rebel group is active in the eastern DRC and consists of original members of the Interhamwe that carried out the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.After the Rwandan genocide, many Hutu people fled to the eastern areas of the DRC which is part of the reason why the M23 has its eyes set on the region. In November of 2012, M2 3RD took control of Goma but within a couple months, Congolese troops, along with UN troops retook control of Goma.
Multi-State Nations occur when a nationality is dispersed across two or more states. In this case, the Hutu and Tutsi people are within Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern regions of the DRC. These nations have significant implications for cultural identity and political representation within affected states. In most cases, these groups maintain a shared identity across state borders while also feeling marginalized in the states in which they reside in. This marginalization often leads to calls for greater representation in government and policy making.