In April 2012, former CNDP (National Congress for the Defense of the People) soldiers attempted to take over the DRC government in a group they called the March 23 Movement, or M23, a.k.a. the Congolese Revolutionary Army. They are allegedly sponsored by the government of the neighboring Rwanda. In November, M23 took over Goma, da capital with over 1 million people. This conflict has forced more than 140,000 people to flee to their homes. According to the UN refugee agency, on top of this are those who were already forced into their homes by previous rounds of fighting in the region. (Essa, 2012)
These rebellion groups, deadset on the mutiny from the DRC government, are terrorizing many innocent civilians with no valid reason. These young men and their leaders are intent on killing men, women, children, and committing criminal acts. They are wreaking havoc on innocent families not associated with the government just to create an uprising, which is just typically met with a counterattack, making all of the DRC a warzone. With the resources already low in their simple lifestyles, this situation is ruining many lives.
The majority of M23 leaders were members of a previous rebellion, the CNDP. In 2009, the governments of Rwanda and DRC made a deal to stabilize eastern DRC, causing Rwanda's arrest of the leader of CNDP, Laurent Nkunda, and the integration of the former CNDP into the Congolese army. This was the "March 23 Agreement" that the current rebellion is named after. The M23 now feels that this agreement has been violated, as they think the government has been subjective when choosing officers for ranks, as well as giving them lower salaries, and haven't done enough to free the Congolese refugees from Rwanda. This lead them to start their mutiny in April.
Despite the ways that M23 may or may not have been wronged, their mutiny is reckless. The violence is doing no good for them, and even making them harder to work with in order to create peace again. They rely heavily on outside forces, and without them they would be terminated, quickly. The government troops will not forfeit to such a reckless army if their actions are meant only to cause disruption than fight for their cause, alas with the continuous support of Rwanda, they would continue to inflict chaos and disruption all throughout the Congo. But as time passed, the rebels were defeated one too many times, and forfeited to the government. A peace treaty was signed, and all those who committed illegal acts or any acts against humanity are to be imprisoned. Rwanda denies any relation between them and the rebels in fear of a war.
In the end, they were beaten-but n interview with Arthur Boutellis, Research Fellow and Advisor to the Peace Operations in Africa Programs at the International Peace Institute points otherwise, "I believe it could still regroup, because most of its fighters—it's been reported—have crossed [from the Democratic Republic of the Congo] into Uganda," (ReliefWeb, 2013).
Sources:
(2013, November 15). M23 Surrendered, But Where Will Its Soldiers End Up? Interview with Arthur Boutellis. ReliefWeb. Retrieved from http://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/m23-surrendered-where-will-its-soldiers-end-interview-arthur
Essa, A. (2012, November 26). Q&A: Behind the M23 mutiny in DR Congo. Retrieved from http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/11/20121126936588395.html
P Patel, K. (n.d.). Q&A: Bertrand Bisimwa, the man leading M23. Retrieved from http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-04-16-qa-bertrand-bisimwa-the-man-leading-m23/#