Produced and directed by the Pamoja kwa Amani Consortium, C-PKA / with the support of PAEMA, Special Issue of August 21, 2025 for the special attention of the members of the United Nations Security Council.
From the security and peace index in the provinces of North and South Kivu:
There is no peace, let alone security, in the entire two provinces. Everyday it is not known if we will survive. Getting through a day, sleeping, and waking up alive is currently a miracle. Attacks against peaceful citizens have become commonplace. Killings, assassinations, massacres, forced deportations, torture, and flagrant violations of human rights have reached unbearable proportions.
As we publish this special issue of our barometer, information received from our branches across the East indicates large-scale preparations for the resumption ofwar on all front lines. All sides are strengthening their troops and weapons. We have serious concerns about the coming days and weeks. There is no indication that peace will return. The various agreements in both Doha and Washington remain unfulfilled, and the divergent lines between the parties continue to widen.
At the same time, our sources on the ground report the continuation of massacres and killings deliberately targeted against civilians, particularly in areas controlled by the Rwandan-backed AFC/23 rebel movement, but also in certain areas controlled by loyalist forces and their so-called “wazalendo” allies. All these acts constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious human rights violations and should not go unpunished.
On the suffering of the people of the East:
As if the killings and other massacres were not enough, the populations of the East, particularly those in rebel-occupied areas, are facing a true humanitarian disaster. At the beginning of the rainy season, many people are living under the stars, at the mercy of all kinds of bad weather, far from their villages, fleeing the hostilities between the various belligerents. The humanitarian situation of the populations of the East is a true catastrophe that defies all understanding and should challenge every human conscience. In the Walikale and Lubero territories of North Kivu, populations are fleeing en masse the resumption of hostilities between the AFC/M23 rebels and loyalist forces. The same situation is observed in the territories of Walungu, Uvira, Mwenga, and Fizi in South Kivu Province. More than 7 million internally displaced people are without any humanitarian assistance. They are abandoned to this sad fate.
The recent attacks against civilians in Kaniola in Walungu Territory, where several civilians were killed following armed attacks carried out by elements of the AFC/M23 rebellion, have brought to the fore the need for all stakeholders to scrupulously respect the ceasefire and comply with International Humanitarian Law, which makes the protection of civilians an obligation for all belligerents. In Kaniola, as elsewhere, it is still clearly established that this war remains primarily linked to the illegal exploitation of natural resources, particularly so-called strategic minerals.
As if that were not enough, the parallel administration established by the AFC/M23 rebels is engaging in acts of administrative, financial, fiscal and parafiscal harassment. In the areas under their control, they are imposing taxes, duties and other fees at exorbitant amounts without taking into account the already chaotic situation in which the population lives in these entities. Thus, for example, it is now required that all vehicle owners (private or public transport) register their vehicle for a fixed fee of $100 USD after which they are all required to insure their vehicles with a newly established insurance company. Beyond these requirements, economic operators are subject to tax obligations that go beyond any normal framework. And failure to comply exposes citizens to acts of torture and even death: “taxes and other fees are collected with weapons in hand.”
The start of the school year is scheduled for the entire Democratic Republic of Congo on September 1, 2025. Millions of children in the East will be unable to return to school due to war and insecurity. Many schools have been destroyed by the warring parties. Many students have fled their villages and are now living in the wilderness. The future of millions of Congolese children is thus seriously compromised.
Specters of Balkanization, despair and feeling of abandonment by the world:
Thirty years of suffering, thirty years of unjust and unjustified war, thirty years of ordeal and apocalypse; thirty years during which, in the total indifference of humanity, one of the greatest devastating and murderous armed conflicts has taken place, with more than 8 million deaths. The Congolese of the East – men, women, youth, and the elderly, are savagely massacred and exterminated. Thirty years during which the world pretended to mobilize by deploying a United Nations mission, the largest peacekeeping mission in the world, but which failed to restore or impose peace despite having all the means to do so. Thirty years during which various initiatives compete against each other, with none succeeding.
With the advent of the current U.S. administration and thanks to the personal commitment of President Donald Trump of the United States of America, a glimmer of hope began to appear. Thanks to the so-called Washington and Doha processes, a peace agreement was signed between Rwanda and the DRC on June 27 in Washington, D.C. A Declaration of Principles was signed in Doha on July 19 between the Government of the DRC and the AFC/M23 rebel movement. The Congolese populations in general and those in the East in particular began to harbor enormous hopes, believing that this time the war in their country was ending. Unfortunately, these great hopes are fading and giving way to despair and total disappointment. All these agreements remain merely deals on paper. The situation on the ground continues to worsen.
Even more worrying is this trend towards the materialization of the division of Congo through what is called “balkanization.” Today, all the signs show us that we are heading straight towards the effective balkanization of the DR Congo. In the provinces currently under Rwandan occupation, with their AFC/M23 allies, a parallel administration is crystallizing, engaging in sovereign acts that only a duly established state authority can take. The rebel administration is taking its place and taking force. Taxes and duties are being collected. Civil status documents such as marriages and birth registrations are being established and issued. In short, a state within another state.
And even greater is the concern of the people of the East is the simplistic and light manner in which the government in Kinshasa seems to be managing. While the hut continues to burn, it is observed that in Kinshasa the time has come for battles of political positioning and retention of power. The latest actions taken by the authorities in Kinshasa corroborate this legitimate fear that animates the people of the East. Was it really appropriate to proceed with the change of government without waiting for the holding and organization of a national
dialogue? Is it really appropriate to convene the electorate for local elections that could be held in the two large provinces of the East of the country?
Recommendations:
- The United Nations Security Council should act while there is still time by utilising all its power, which involves the enforcement and implementation of all its resolutions on DRC;
- UN Security Council Resolution 2773 is an indispensable instrument to ending violence in the DRC and bringing peace: thirty years of suffering is too much;
- Targeted and effective sanctions against all those responsible for crimes against humanity, killings, human rights violations and other abuses perpetrated in the east of the DRC must be designated with urgency ;
- The East of the DRC must be declared a global humanitarian emergency zone and the belligerents must allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid to internally displaced persons and other vulnerable parts of the population severely affected by the war;
- Local civil society organizations in the East including major groups such as the Pamoja kwa Amani Consortium need to be supported in order to obtain the inclusion and participation of local communities in all peace-building efforts in the DRC.
Together let’s build peace!
Pamoja Tujenge Amani!
Together, let’s build peace!
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