Congolese President Skips Crisis Meeting With Rwanda

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at violent clashes between the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s military and Rwandan-backed rebels, U.S. diplomatic efforts in Israel and Gaza, and a deadly stampede during India’s Maha Kumbh festival.

Rising Death Toll

Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi skipped a virtual crisis summit with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and other regional leaders on Wednesday—a summit meant to address ongoing fighting in the eastern Congolese provincial capital of Goma. Instead, Tshisekedi addressed the nation for the first time since insurgency groups seized the city on Monday.

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Rising Death Toll

Over the past three days, the Congo River Alliance, allegedly backed by Rwanda, has captured large swaths of the city, including Goma International Airport. Locals have accused the insurgency of attacking at least 10 embassies; looting property; targeting hospitals; and cutting off essential services, such as water, electricity, and internet.

Fighting between Congolese forces and the rebel alliance has also killed more than 100 people, injured nearly 1,000 others, and displaced some 300,000 people living in camps around the city. “Civilians are taking the brunt of the escalating hostilities,” Bruno Lemarquis, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Congo, said on Monday.

According to the U.N., there is extensive evidence that Rwanda backs M23, a rebel group part of the Congo River Alliance, and Kinshasa has since accused Kigali of deploying troops to eastern Congo to assist rebellion efforts. Rwanda denies such involvement and instead has blamed recent violence on the Congolese military, saying it violated a cease-fire agreement reached last year and supports remnants of the forces responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Congolese Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner called on the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to take urgent action to stop the clashes from escalating into an all-out war. She urged the council to demand the unconditional withdrawal of all Rwandan troops from Congolese territory, the introduction of sanctions on Rwanda’s military, the establishment of an embargo on Rwanda’s “illicit exploitation and exportation” of resources in mineral-rich Goma, the suspension of Rwanda as a contributor to U.N. peacekeeping forces, and the promise of total transparency concerning Rwandan arms transfers.

Foreign governments also urged for a truce between Congolese and Rwandan-backed forces this week. “We call for an immediate cease-fire and end to this fighting,” acting U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea told the Security Council on Tuesday, adding that “Rwanda must withdraw troops” from Congo.

Several U.N. peacekeepers and foreign fighters have been caught in the crossfire in recent days. On Wednesday, Rwanda’s military said more than 280 Romanian mercenaries fighting alongside Congolese forces had surrendered to M23.

This comes as the insurgency group advances south toward the neighboring provincial capital of Bukavu in an apparent effort to expand its territorial control. Congo River Alliance leader Corneille Nangaa has suggested that the group’s aim is to oust Tshisekedi. Analysts say the fall of Goma on Monday was the gravest escalation in the years of fighting since 2012, when rebels last held the city; the potential fall of Bukavu could mark an even greater victory for M23, as no rebellions have successfully captured that area in decades.

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What We’re Following

White House diplomacy. U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday to discuss regional efforts to enforce the Israel-Hamas cease-fire and hostage release deal. While there, Witkoff inspected the Netzarim Corridor, making him the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Gaza in years.

“The implementation here is the critical thing,” Witkoff said in New York on Monday ahead of his diplomatic trip. His first stop in the Middle East on Tuesday was to Saudi Arabia, where he met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Witkoff’s trip to Israel comes one day after U.S. President Donald Trump invited Netanyahu to the White House next week. “I look forward to discussing how we can bring peace to Israel and its neighbors, and efforts to counter our shared adversaries,” the Trump administration wrote to Netanyahu in a letter. The Israeli prime minister would be the first foreign leader to visit Washington since the start of Trump’s second term.

Deadly crush. A stampede at the world’s largest religious gathering in northern India on Wednesday killed at least 30 people and injured dozens more. According to local police, the crush occurred when worshippers tried to jump barricades to reach the intersection of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the Saraswati rivers for a ritual bath marking a sacred day in the six-week Maha Kumbh festival.

“The situation is now under control, but there is a massive crowd of pilgrims,” Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Wednesday. Nearly 150 million people have already attended the festival, which began on Jan. 13 and takes place every 12 years.

Political opponents of Adityanath were quick to blame government mismanagement for the tragedy. In response, the chief minister announced that there would be a judicial inquiry into why the crush occurred, and he said the state government would give the families of those who died around $29,000 per person.

Formal farewell. Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso withdrew from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Wednesday. The three African nations announced their intention to do so last year following a slew of military coups that led to the formation of the trilateral Alliance of Sahel States. Their departure removes around 73 million people—and more than half of ECOWAS’s land area—from the bloc.

Growing tensions between ECOWAS and the three countries’ juntas led the economic bloc to impose hefty sanctions on their regimes. To combat this, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso turned away from support by former colonial power France and sidled closer to Russia’s Africa Corps, a mercenary organization that replaced the Wagner Group.

This is the first time in ECOWAS’s history that members have left the bloc in such a manner. Experts suggest that their withdrawal could undermine pro-democracy efforts on the continent and even threaten regional stability. However, ECOWAS told its remaining 12 countries on Wednesday to continue the three nations’ member privileges, including freedom of movement with an ECOWAS passport.

Odds and Ends

Late last December, I stood with my back to the Mona Lisa to take in the splendor of Paolo Veronese’s The Wedding Feast at Cana. Despite the historical hoopla of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous painting, it was hard to ignore the artwork that hung directly across from it: a 1500s masterpiece that is the largest painting in Paris’s Louvre Museum. Starting in 2031, though, art aficionados will be able to see Mona Lisa’s smile without any distractions. French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday that the Mona Lisa will receive its own dedicated room as part of a major renovation project meant to improve the visiting experience.

The construction plan will also address water leaks, temperature variations, and a lack of food options and bathrooms. I can personally attest that it took me an hour to find a restroom, and there were only two stalls inside it.

The post Congolese President Skips Crisis Meeting With Rwanda appeared first on Foreign Policy.