A full breakdown of the M23 offensive backed by Rwanda in eastern Congo

Eastern Congo has long been one of Africa’s most unstable regions, where weak state control, regional rivalries, and vast mineral wealth intersect. For decades, armed groups have exploited this environment, turning local insecurity into a sustained regional crisis. What has changed recently is not the existence of rebellion, but its scale, speed, and level of external backing. The resurgence of the M-23 movement reflects a broader shift in the geopolitical balance surrounding the Great Lakes region. As global attention and resources are pulled toward other crises, long-standing restraints on regional actors have weakened. This has allowed military force and resource control to once again reshape borders and power structures inside the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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