Goma, DR Congo – More than a year after the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda signed an agreement intended to end their confrontation, the two countries are back at the negotiating table in Geneva. In eastern Congo, however, the guns have not gone quiet. The dispute over the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Rwanda’s military presence in Congolese territory and M23’s control of large parts of the east is now difficult to separate.
While the DRC and Rwanda negotiate in Geneva, Kinshasa is pursuing a separate dialogue with the political alliance backing M23. The talks are separate, but the conflicts they are trying to contain are not. In Goma, where M23 fighters captured the city in January 2025, the latest round of diplomacy is being judged against what has happened since.
For Josue Akuzwe Walayi, a pro-democracy activist speaking from Kinshasa, another round of talks will mean little unless people begin to see a change in their daily lives. Fields continue to be ravaged in the east, and further displacement is still being reported,” he told Al Jazeera. At the heart of the dispute is the FDLR.
The armed group emerged from the aftermath of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, when members of the former Rwandan army and fighter groups involved in the killings fled into what is now eastern DRC. Kigali has long regarded the group’s presence near Rwanda’s border as a security threat. Under the Washington framework, Kinshasa agreed to a process aimed at neutralising the FDLR.
The Congolese government says that process, including demobilisation measures, is under way. But Rwandan President Paul Kagame described the agreement on the FDLR as “insufficient” in remarks at the end of last month. Patrick Muyaya, the Congolese minister of information and government spokesperson, rejected that assessment, saying Kinshasa is meeting its commitments while accusing Kigali of maintaining “expansionist ambitions” in eastern DRC.
The disagreement is not simply over whether the FDLR process is sufficient. It reflects a deeper dispute over security and sovereignty. Rwanda wants credible assurances that armed groups hostile to it will not operate from Congolese territory.
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