To say that the crisis in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has never been a priority on international diplomatic agendas since the resurgence of the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel movement, more than three years ago, would be an understatement. It wasn't until the fall, on Monday, January 27, of Goma, the capital of the DRC's North Kivu province, a city of 1 million inhabitants and around as many displaced persons, that the United Nations, African regional organizations and the European Union started strongly marshaling their efforts.

Yet this was only the latest act in the rebel "conquest" of North Kivu, which began in November 2021. First, M23 seized a post on the border between the DRC and Uganda. The resumption of hostilities had come as a surprise, as the preceding months had been marked by warming regional diplomatic relations, a trend driven by Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi. Elected in 2017, he had set about renewing the ties that had become strained under his predecessor, Joseph Kabila – both with Paul Kagame's Rwanda, but also with Uganda, in 2021, with which Kinshasa signed several economic and security agreements.

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