Leaders | Africa in peril

Rwanda does a Putin in Congo

To understand the seizure of Goma, consider a parallel with Ukraine

Members of the M23 armed group travel in a pickup truck as they drive through a street in Goma, Congo on January 29th 2025
Photograph: Getty Images

SOMETHING AWFUL is happening in Congo. A rebel group called M23 seized control of Goma, the biggest city in the east of the country, on January 27th, killing several UN peacekeepers and prompting hundreds of thousands of locals to flee. Hardly anyone outside central Africa knows who M23 are or why they are fighting. So here’s a helpful analogy: Donbas.

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