Democratic Republic of the Congo–Rwanda conflict (2022–present)

A conflict began between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda in 2022 after Rwandan forces entered the country to provide military support to the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group, including fighting alongside them against the Congolese military (FARDC) and pro-government militias.

Since the Second Congo War the eastern provinces of the DRC have been the site of an ongoing insurgency by various rebel groups, most notably the March 23 Movement (M23) in North Kivu and its Twirwaneho affiliate in South Kivu, and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in Ituri and North Kivu. The current stage of the conflict is related to an ongoing campaign that began in March 2022 by the M23 Movement, which the DRC, United Nations, United States, and other Western countries accuse Rwanda of not only supporting but actively fighting for. Rwanda and M23 have also accused the DRC of working together with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an ethnic Hutu paramilitary group that took part in the Rwandan Genocide. Both the Congo and Rwanda deny they support the FDLR and M23, respectively, contrary to research and reports that confirm both sides' allegations.

Burundi, which has accused Rwanda of orchestrating a 2015 coup attempt, deployed troops to assist the DRC against the M23 offensive. There were as many as 12,000 Burundian troops in eastern Congo until early February 2025, when the majority withdrew, leaving around 3,000. The MONUSCO peacekeeping mission has maintained that it is not involved in the conflict apart from its role in defending the region from militants, but has been accused by Rwanda of taking sides due to its cooperation with the Congolese armed forces. Meanwhile, the Congolese government has asked MONUSCO peacekeepers to leave the DRC due to a "failure to protect civilians from armed groups."

There were two efforts at peace negotiations organized between the DRC and Rwanda: one hosted by Kenya in 2022, which failed, and another hosted by Angola in 2024, the latter leading to a ceasefire agreement in August. Fighting between Congolese forces and Rwandan-backed M23 rebels resumed in October 2024 after having slowed down, and intensified towards the end of the year. Planned negotiations between Rwandan president Paul Kagame and Congolese president Félix Tshisekedi in December were cancelled over disagreements about preconditions. The Rwanda Defence Force had up to 4,000 troops in the DRC by a UN estimate in December 2024, and this increased to as much as 12,000 by March 2025.

During January 2025, the rebels carried out a successful offensive on Goma, the capital of the DRC's North Kivu province, displacing over 400,000 people and causing the DRC to cut off its diplomatic ties with Rwanda. The Congolese government called Rwandan military support for the rebels a "declaration of war." The fall of Goma after several days of fighting in late January has been the largest escalation of the Kivu conflict since M23 first occupied the city in 2012. M23 continued its advance into the rest of North Kivu and into South Kivu during February, capturing the latter's capital Bukavu. The African Union has called on M23 to withdraw to prevent the "balkanization" of the DR Congo and the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2773 that also called on Rwanda to end its support for M23.