When Rebels Govern: The Case for M23’s Statebuilding Project
You can blame King Leopold or Belgium or Capitalism or whatever satisfies your conscience: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) cannot operate as a cohesive political unit. For three decades, armed rebellion has been a way of life in the Congo’s eastern provinces, with state control barely extending beyond the capital Kinshasa. Since 2021, the Rwandan-backed rebel group M23 has captured vast swathes of territory, including the two largest cities in the east, Goma and Bukavu. Western journalists, such as former Reuters correspondent Michela Wrong, have criticized the rebellion’s foreign backing as a breach of Congo’s sovereignty, framing the group as the primary driver of instability. This thinking feeds into the same cycle of delusion that has produced one failed peace treaty after another. Attempting to tie the Congo back together from the capital is not the solution: it is time to rethink political construction in the region.