"The situation in the Great Lakes region, and in particular in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRCongo), continues to be alarming, as the March 23 Movement (M23) has continued its territorial expansion and now controls more territory than in 2012 ", said Huang Xia, special envoy of UN Secretary-General António Guterres for the region.
The Chinese diplomat, who addressed the 15 Council members and representatives of Rwanda and DRCongo in French, said he can "see a real silver lining" since the ceasefire between the Congolese army and the Kigali-backed M23 , was sealed on July 30, thanks to the mediation of President João Lourenço.
Since the end of 2021, this predominantly Tutsi armed group has taken possession of vast areas of Congolese territory in the mineral-rich province of North Kivu, the scene of wars for 30 years.
At the UN General Assembly in late September, DRCongo President Félix Tshisekedi called for "specific sanctions" against Rwanda, which he has long accused of supporting the "terrorist" M23 in the east of his country.
The resurgence of this rebellion three years ago has caused a humanitarian crisis affecting around seven million internally displaced people in DRCongo, many of whom are crowded into camps on the outskirts of Goma, capital of North Kivu province.
At the end of September, the American organization Human Rights Watch, supported by the United States of America, accused the M23 and Rwanda of having "indiscriminately bombed" these camps since the beginning of the year.
However, for Rwanda, these are "ridiculous" and even "absurd" allegations.
However, this did not dissuade diplomat Huan a global peace agreement between the parties".
While Kinshasa, Washington and Paris regularly accuse Kigali of providing military support to the M23, the Security Council has so far limited itself to condemning the "foreign military support" given to this rebellion.
