Under the control of the M23 militia and Rwanda, vast territories in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo are ruled, with lucrative trafficking routes and stockpiles of weapons at their disposal. M23, with 6,000 to 9,000 fighters, has grown in power and sophistication, carrying out forced recruitment, extrajudicial killings, and sexual violence in areas it seizes. The conflict, rooted in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, involves the exploitation of coltan mines for rare-earth minerals, used in smartphones, with M23 collecting significant monthly taxes.
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