[8] The MONUSCO peacekeeping mission has maintained that it is not involved in the conflict apart from its role in defending the region from militants,[19] but has been accused by Rwanda of taking sides due to its cooperation with the Congolese armed forces.

[20] Meanwhile, the Congolese government has asked MONUSCO peacekeepers to leave the DRC due to a "failure to protect civilians from armed groups.

"[24][25][26][27] The fall of Goma after several days of fighting in late January has been the largest escalation of the Kivu conflict since M23 first occupied the city in 2012.

[29] These elements, consisting of the former Rwandan armed forces and the Interahamwe paramilitary group, entered the Kivu region in eastern Zaire along with 1.5 million Hutu civilian refugees from Rwanda.

[29][30] Zaire, led by the regime of Mobutu Sese Seko, had been undergoing economic and political decline, and its weak state institutions were not capable of maintaining order in the vast country.

[32] Also present were the Banyamulenge, a community of ethnic Tutsis from Rwanda that represented a minority in the South Kivu province of Zaire and had been discriminated against.

[33] During late 1995 and early 1996, large-scale fighting broke out involving the Hutu refugees, the Banyamulenge, the rest of the population in Kivu, and the Zairian military.

[38] General Paul Kagame stated in a media interview in July 1997 that Rwanda planned and directed the Banyamulenge rebellion in eastern Zaire and that its troops had participated in the capture of multiple cities.

[39] The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL) was founded by a leading member of Mobutu's political opposition, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, in October 1996.

[48] The nationality status of the Banyamulenge was not resolved and Hutu militias continued to be active along Rwanda's border in the Kivu region.

[57] On 8 June, Alexander De Croo, the Prime Minister of Belgium, compared the situation in the eastern DRC to that of Ukraine in a visit to Kinshasa, additionally making comments implying his support for the Congo in its border crisis with Rwanda.

[58] On 9 June, the DRC said it had discovered that 500 Rwandan special forces in disguise had been sent into the area near the town of Tshanzu in North Kivu.

[14][59] The day afterwards, the DRC accused Rwanda of firing rockets at a school in Biruma,[60] killing two children and seriously injuring another person of unspecified age.

[61][62] The UN called for a ceasefire between the two countries,[63] but on 12 June, the DRC alleged that Rwanda intended to occupy the city of Bunagana,[11] which M23 forces would then capture one day later.

[20] The heavy fighting also caused about 137 Congolese soldiers and 37 police officers to flee into Uganda, where they surrendered to Ugandan forces.

[71] On the same day, the DRC suspended all "memoranda of understanding, agreements, and conventions concluded with Rwanda", demanding the withdrawal of all alleged Rwandan military personnel within the boundaries of the country.

The report provided evidence that Rwandan troops had entered Congolese territory to support M23, fighting alongside the insurgents.

[16] The Kivu Security Barometre, a project of the New York University's Congo Research Group, found that satellite photos showing a battle from late October 2022 in Rugari, Rutshuru Territory revealed soldiers with insignias similar to those of the Rwandan Defence Force.

The FARDC confirmed that the soldier had been killed, identifying him as a recent recruit to the armed forces who went missing after he had gotten lost during an army patrol.

[83] The East African Community demanded, on 24 November, for both a ceasefire between Rwanda and the DRC as well as ordering the M23 movement to withdraw from all occupied territories.

[89] Five days later, on 24 January, a Congolese Su-25 was damaged by MANPAD fire by Rwandan forces after Rwanda claimed it violated its airspace.

[101] On 17 February, the U.S. Department of State published a statement condemning Rwanda's alleged support of M23, while calling for the Rwandan government to remove all RDF personnel and surface-to-air missile systems from the DRC.

[102] The Rwandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MINAFFET) responded with a rejection of U.S. demands, stating their recent moves were justified as defensive measures against the FDLR, and questioned the ability of the U.S. to act as a credible mediator in the African Great Lakes.

"[103] The DRC accused Rwanda of carrying out a drone attack that damaged a civilian aircraft at Goma International Airport.

Look to the lawless FDLR [and] Wazalendo supported by the FARDC, for this kind of atrocity.”[107] On August 30, 2024, the Democratic Republic of Congo committed to suing Rwanda before the East African Court of Justice.

An emergency session of the UN Security Council was held, where Congolese foreign minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner called Rwanda's actions a "declaration of war."