- In January and February 2025, Goma, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, and Bukavu, the second-largest city in the country, fell to the rebel armed group M23 (the March 23 Movement). The group also captured the town of Minova.
- Human rights and environmental activists who were among the few to denounce illegal extractive activities and protect natural resources in the mineral-rich region are now hiding out of fear for their lives due to the nature of their work. Some conservationists have also lost their salaries as the U.S. government freezes USAID foreign aid.
- The spread of the armed conflict is accentuating the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the entire region by multiple actors, environmentalists say, contributing to deforestation and erosion of biodiversity.
- It’s also documented that the M23 is earning a substantial amount of money by illegally smuggling and laundering minerals, like tantalum, from the DRC.
“Since Goma fell, I’ve lived in fear. I don’t dare leave my house.” These are the words of Justin Shamutwa Masumbuko, general coordinator of the Indigenous rights NGO ADELIPO-Congo.
For several months now, he and his organization have been visiting camps for internally displaced people in and around the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) eastern city of Goma. They were there to help Indigenous Batwa people, who, according to him, continue to face discrimination, segregation and lack of social services while they fled armed conflict.
But today, among those fleeing conflict and hiding in the region are activists like Shamutwa and environmentalists, who were among the few to denounce illegal extractive activities and protect natural resources in the mineral-rich region. Their work, they say, puts them in jeopardy. A recent freezing of foreign aid, like USAID, has also left some Congolese conservationists without salaries and wary of how they will support themselves and their families during the conflict.
Since the resurgence of the armed group M23 (March 23 Movement) in 2021, fighting with other armed groups and the DRC’s military forced people throughout the eastern North Kivu province to escape. Over time, at least nine displacement camps sprung up in the province’s capital, Goma, sheltering hundreds of thousands of people in extremely poor conditions.
In January, fighting intensified and forced another 400,000 people to flee, according to the United Nations refugee agency. On Jan. 21, the M23, in association with Rwanda’s military (the Rwanda Defence Force), seized Minova (a town 40 kilometers, or 25 miles, from Goma). It was at this point that many human rights and environmental activists became afraid that the city would fall — and fled.
“Some human rights defenders have managed to leave the town early. The rebels had already taken several villages, the road was blocked and Lake Kivu was already under siege, so I couldn’t escape,” Shamutwa explains. “On Sunday, we were practically cut off from the world.”
The next day, Jan. 27, the M23 announced that Goma, the capital of North Kivu, fell to the armed group. Weeks later, on February 16, Bukavu, the second-largest city in the country and capital of South Kivu, also fell to the group. And with these falls, fear of a regional conflict in the Great Lakes area is growing.
“We’re afraid because the rebels have promised that all the human rights defenders who denounce the abuses they committed in the villages they took before, they’re going to kill them,” Shamutwa says. “[When] they killed people in Masisi, we denounced the sexual violence. They introduced forced labor and taxes [racketeering]. So, when Goma was taken, those who could leave [did]. The rest hid, because they know who we are.”
Both the United Nations and human rights defenders have widely documented the crimes perpetrated by the M23. Because they have spoken out in the past, Shamutwa and other activists fear they will be targeted.
It’s a fate shared by environmentalists too. Many of them refuse to answer our questions out of fear. One environmental activist agrees to testify to Mongabay, on condition that we guarantee his anonymity.
“The town is currently experiencing a proliferation of weapons on the one hand, and on the other, the presence of highwaymen who have escaped from prison. This situation has plunged the city [Goma] into a state of insecurity characterized by killings, mainly of human rights and environmental activists, as well as community leaders,” he says. “On average, two or more cases of killings are recorded every night. So far, it is difficult for me to determine the origin of the killers.
On the night following the takeover of Goma, prisoners from the city’s Munzenze prison escaped, reportedly raping at least 165 female prisoners before burning them alive. “Some of the escapees recovered weapons left behind by the soldiers when they fled. We’re afraid for our lives, so we’re all hiding,” the anonymous environmental activist says.
Another anonymous conservationist says some environmentalists are trapped in Goma and Bukavu, unable to escape to safety with their families and caught in a situation of increasing chaos with rising ethnic tensions, sporadic lootings, and accusations of sympathizing with the rebels.
“We are not just individuals caught in the chaos, but we are wildlife defenders, advocates for peace, and allies of the community — each of us carrying a deep sense of responsibility to our families and our work,” they tell Mongabay. “I fear something catastrophic is coming. The situation feels as if it’s on the brink of a major disaster, and we are unsure of how we will survive the coming chaos.”
According to U.N. humanitarian affairs agency, nearly 3,000 people reportedly have been killed during the M23 offensive on Goma. On Feb. 5, the same agency reported the killing of three humanitarian workers by unidentified armed men in North Kivu. In Bukavu, unidentified looters went off with 7,000 tonnes of humanitarian food supplies after M23 captured the city.
Contacted by Mongabay, the political-military coalition Congo River Alliance, of which the armed group M23 is a member, did not respond by the time of publication. Nor did Rwanda’s ministry of foreign affairs.
Political analysts say the M23 has multiple goals: to secure Rwandaphone Tutsi communities and their lands, dismantle other armed groups like the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) they say are tied to the 1994 Rwanda genocide, illegally smuggle and control DRC’s mineral resources and, increasingly, oust the DRC president. These goals, the analysts say, intersect with the Rwanda government’s interests.
In January, Rwanda President Paul Kagame declared on national television that the FDLR is continuing “its genocidal ideology” in the DRC with the support of the DRC government and under the gaze of the U.N. peacekeeping mission on DRC, MONUSCO.
Some experts in the local extractive sector like Jean-Pierre Okenda, director of the DRC-based NGO Sentinel Natural Resources, say it’s access and control of the country’s critical minerals that’s at the heart of the M23 and the Rwandan Army’s attack on Goma and Bukavu.
Scared to denounce smuggled resources
For this prominent member of civil society in South Kivu, who wished to remain anonymous for safety reasons, their fear is entirely justified. Just before the fall of Goma, he saw many activists seeking refuge in his province south of North Kivu. In his view, the work of human rights defenders and environmentalists could hinder the activities of the M23.
“The spread of the armed conflict in the region is accentuating the illegal exploitation of natural resources. There are now emissaries from neighboring countries who come and exploit the natural resources. This is what is causing the erosion of biodiversity in areas like Virunga,” he explains.
Without the presence of activists and their local organizations, the anonym civil society member says there are areas where biodiversity is in jeopardy of disappearing because the government doesn’t have full control of the situation. “The presence of these environmental defenders is what reduces the pressure on natural resources,” he tells Mongabay.
According to an anonymous conservationist, “the situation is becoming increasingly complex, with multiple armed groups and militias” (who also take part in violent extraction in the region) joining the conflict and adding to the chaos.
North and South Kivu, located in the lush Congo Basin rainforest, are areas rich in minerals of global importance. There is gold, cassiterite and also the largest-known reserve of coltan, a mineral used in the manufacture of computers and smartphones.
According to the World Rainforest Movement, because of the presence of numerous armed groups in the region and an inefficient Congolese Army, artisanal miners and companies often do not respect mining regulations on community rights and environmental standards. According to WRM, this contributes to deforestation in the region.
In September 2024, the United Nations stated that in the Rubaya area captured by the M23, the armed group was selling tantalum worth around $300,000 a month. Tantalum is used in aerospace and nuclear power stations, and 15% of the world’s production comes from the DRC, a country that has no nuclear power stations.
“The criminal laundering of the DRC’s natural resources smuggled out of the country is strengthening armed groups, sustaining the exploitation of civilian populations, some of them reduced to de-facto slavery, and undermining peace-making efforts,” Bintou Keita, U.N. special representative for the DRC and head of MONUSCO, says in a press release.
Some of these minerals might end up in Europe and also in the United States. In February 2024, the European Union signed an MoU on raw materials value chains with Rwanda, which aims to strengthen the African nation’s “sustainable and responsible production and use of critical and strategic raw materials” as the EU seeks supplies of raw materials for its renewable energy objectives. The agreement, which promises financial support for Rwanda, was signed at a time when the country’s support for the M23 armed group was already well known.
While Belgium, a former colonizer of the DRC and home to a large Congolese diaspora, is calling for the suspension of the agreement in light of recent events, the rest of Europe is coy and has so far only condemned Rwanda’s support of M23. As is the United States, where subsidiaries of U.S. company Apple have been sued for allegedly using “blood minerals” mined illegally in the DRC and laundered through international supply chains. Newly elected President Donald Trump described the crisis as a “very serious problem.”
Lacking funds and USAID
The recent freezing of foreign aid, especially from organizations like the USAID, has left some conservationists “without any salaries or resources,” say sources. One conservationist says some had grants that were supposed to help them through such trying times, but now even those funds are cut off. “We have nothing left, no support, no way forward. The emotional toll is immense.”
Last year, USAID directed $365 million towards conservation programs worldwide. In the DRC, the U.S. government is one of the biggest funders of conservation projects and sent the country hundreds of millions of dollars, primarily through USAID’s Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE), since 1995. But in January, President Donald Trump’s administration froze the foreign aid while it reassesses its uses and priorities.
“We have dedicated our lives to helping our communities and defending the environment, but now we find ourselves helpless, unable to offer that same support to those we love. The uncertainty is crushing,” the conservationist tells Mongabay. “It’s hard to even put into words the frustration and hopelessness we feel. We have given everything to this cause, and now, with nothing left to rely on, we are left in a state of despair. I can only pray for a miracle, though I know deep down that it’s not enough.”
Meanwhile, as the armed group seize the city of Bukavu, in Goma, the heavy artillery fire has stopped. However, there is still fear among the sources we spoke to in Goma, even if an uneasy calm has settled over the city and socioeconomic activities resume.
“They [M23] are watching us and they’ve put their intelligence agents on us. Once you’re caught, they don’t have any prisons. So, I’m afraid I’ll end up with a bullet in my head,” says Guy Mukumo, a campaigner for the rights of Indigenous Batwa peoples in the region.
And it’s not only himself he’s worried about. According to Claude Kalinga, communications officer at the World Food Programme in the DRC, with the arrival of the M23, the armed group closed many camps for internally displaced people in and around Goma and ordered the inhabitants to return to their villages of origin.
“They forced the displaced people to leave their camps unaccompanied, without any security measures, which is an inhumane act. Those who have a telephone have started to call us, they are in difficulty, they can’t find any food,” Mukumo says.
But according to Shamutwa, for the Indigenous populations, the risk is greater.
“They are discriminated against, they have always been discriminated against, even before the war. This is worse. They are the ‘voiceless.’ Yesterday, our protection officer was attacked when he went to see the children he usually looks after. He was threatened and beaten up,” he tells Mongabay. “We’re afraid to go out. As a result, nobody cares about them.’
Brief breakdown of key events leading to the conflict:
Banner image: Members of Yuturi Warmi, originally from the community of Serena in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Photo: Yuturi Warmi Archive.
Related Mongabay podcast episode: As Africa eyes protected areas expansion of 1 million square miles, concerns over enforcement persist. Listen here:
FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.
Credits
