In DR Congo, M23 militia takes root as diplomacy stalls

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KINSHASA - While a peace deal is proving slow to take effect on the ground, the M23 armed group is consolidating its political and economic hold on the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

It has set about recruiting officials and imposing taxes, as well as training judges, soldiers and police in a bid to create parallel administrative structures to those of the Kinshasa government.

Eastern DRC, rich in mineral resources and bordering Rwanda, has been riven by conflict for more than 30 years.

The crisis intensified with the 2021 resurgence of the M23,  an armed group fighting the Kinshasa authorities and came to a head early this year when the militia seized the key cities of Goma and Bukavu.

The M23 subsequently found itself in control of a vast territory where everything needs to be rebuilt.

The government has shuttered banks and most other administrative services in the volatile east, and many civil servants have fled.

The M23, whose stated aim is to overthrow the government of President Felix Tshisekedi, plans to "establish a new model of administration (based) on transparency and efficiency", the leader of its political wing, Corneille Nangaa, said in late September.

Experts contacted by AFP said the movement hoped to convince the Congolese people and international community that it had the ability to govern.

In its first few months, it appointed provincial governors, mayors and local administrators and began issuing identity papers and administrative documents.

But Goma and Bukavu -- the capitals of North and South Kivu provinces respectively -- have gone for months without police or courts, and local witnesses point to a sharp rise in crime.

The closure of banks and trade routes has worsened the already ongoing economic crisis.

Police recruits and lawyers

Since August, the M23 has announced a series of changes.

It released a video showcasing its new police force, composed in part of former government officers.

It was unclear if they had joined the group's structure willingly or by force.

The M23 footage sought to stress the professionalism of its new recruits, contrasting them with the national police force, which has a reputation for entrenched corruption.

It showed police officers in riot gear demonstrating their strength and investigators in overalls practising how to analyse a crime scene.

The group has also organised a recruitment exam for more than 500 lawyers, with a view to integrating them into the judiciary.

Until now, the M23 has "operated its imposed governance structures without basic legal safeguards or accountability mechanisms, resulting in arbitrary punishments and extrajudicial executions", United Nations experts said in a report in July.

Mass roundups of people deemed suspects have helped reduce crime, but at the cost of numerous abuses denounced by international organisations.

'External support'

The M23 also told the public it had recruited 7,000 newly trained soldiers.

Their usefulness and loyalty remain to be tested, as many are former Congolese army soldiers captured during M23 offensives earlier this year.

They may enable the armed group to better control its rear guard, where security sources say pro-Kinshasa militias are engaged in guerrilla warfare to undermine it.

Deploying these troops raises questions about the M23's sources of financing in a region without a banking system.

"M23 cannot do without external support for the time being, given that the ongoing military operations require colossal funding," said Reagan Miviri from the Congolese research institute Ebuteli.

To compensate for the banks' closure, the M23 has set up a financial authority to centralise its revenues.

It has also created, or reinstated, taxes, particularly on trade and mining activities.

Some are too much to bear for people already suffering from the lengthy regional conflict.

"We have lost everything because of them and yet they have no qualms about imposing exorbitant taxes on us," said a civil society activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The main trade union in South Kivu wrote to the M23 late last month, pleading for tax relief.

In the letter, seen by AFP, the union said it was "virtually impossible" for the local population to meet the M23's tax demands, when they were "already suffocating" due to the rising cost of living, unstable exchange rates, war-related losses and the fact that any savings they had were frozen in government banks.