The M23 marched into Goma in February to effectively take over North Kivu, with the decisive battle at the same airport against the ill-fated South African-led Southern African Development Community force, known as SAMIDRC.
A resolution passed in France on Thursday called for the reopening of Goma International Airport, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), but the Congo River Alliance, the political base of the M23 rebels, opposed the plan, claiming the Congolese government is increasing insecurity in North Kivu by bombing villages.
Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, addressing the media at the ongoing Conference for Peace and Prosperity in the Great Lakes Region, said the airport’s reopening would be a priority in the Qatari mediation process.
It was discussed that the airport would primarily serve humanitarian purposes — as a corridor for much-needed aid to reach affected communities.
Before its closure, it was strategically important to UN peacekeepers.
However, Congo River Alliance leader Corneille Nangaa, in a statement, said they were “astonished” by the decision, which he called “ill-timed, disconnected from reality on the ground”.
Nangaa raised concern about the communities in South and North Kivu that the Congolese government was bombarding. He said some of the attacks on civilian communities were directed at public infrastructure such as factories and bridges.
The M23 marched into Goma in February to effectively take over North Kivu, with the decisive battle at the same airport against the ill-fated South African-led Southern African Development Community force, known as SAMIDRC.
Since then, the airport has been treated like a crime scene. International media have been allowed limited access to see damage to infrastructure and grounded military aircraft and tankers.
Travellers coming into Goma now fly through alternative airports in Kigali, Rwanda or Entebbe, Uganda.
The M23 shut down the airspace in areas it operates in to avoid air strikes by the Congolese army and its allies. Hence, for the airport to open, Nangaa said France, which hosted the conference, should “adopt a just and equitable position” instead of encouraging “those who exploit human distress”.
At the conference, French President Emmanuel Macron noted that “there are now developments that go in the wrong direction”.
He highlighted that: “Armed confrontation, troop reinforcements and hate speech do not help international efforts to support the region or the possibilities of sustainable peace.”
Amid mistrust on both sides, the M23 has continued to build its military
.
In early October, addressing a graduation ceremony of 9 350 recent recruits, M23 commander Sultani Makenga said they were working on “bringing change to our nation”.
The Congolese government is steadfast in condemning whoever it suspects of working alongside the M23 rebels.
On Monday, the government moved on to ban the operations of the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) of former president Joseph Kabila, who has a death sentence hanging over his head.
A fortnight ago, Kabila held a meeting in Nairobi that brought together numerous Congolese opposition parties who vowed to save the DRC from what they alleged was authoritarian politics.
The DRC’s interior ministry accused the PPRD of “complicity with the M23 rebellion”, but the party, in a statement, denounced the move as “illegal and political”.
The government has also banned Jose Makila Sumanda’s Labour Alliance for Development from political activity after attending Kabila’s Nairobi summit.
But, according to Macron, what was needed in eastern DRC was the neutralisation of the DRC-supported Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, full respect for the territorial integrity of the DRC through the removal of the Rwandan forces in North Kivu and the withdrawal of European mercenaries.