How African leaders can handle long-running crisis in DR Congo

Residents run off after observing members of the M23 armed group walking through a street of the Keshero neighborhood in Goma, on January 27, 2025. [AFP]

The Congo crisis and the rise of the M23 rebel group are deeply intertwined with the broader geopolitics of the African Great Lakes region, which has seen repeated struggles for political control, ethnic conflict and exploitation of resources.

The DRC, with its vast territory and abundant mineral wealth, has become a key battleground for local and foreign powers, whose interests in the country's resources have exacerbated internal strife. The wealth of the DRC, particularly in minerals like coltan, cobalt, timber, gold and diamonds, has been a source of economic opportunity and international exploitation, fueling much of the violence that continues today.