Yes. Read that.

Wolfram Lacher@wlacher.bsky.social · 7mo ago

In the new @dissentmag.bsky.social issue, out today, @yguichaoua.bsky.social and I diagnose the crisis of conflict studies in a piece that is part intellectual history, part personal experience. What was conflict studies for? And what can its travails tell us about how wars have changed?

Out now! Summary Report: Workshop on the Geopolitics of Critical Minerals and the AI Supply Chain www.ias.edu/sites/defaul... The report highlights how AI’s expansion is tied to critical minerals, energy, water, land, and labor—and why interdisciplinary approaches are essential for AI governance.🧵

Last week, the US brokered a peace deal between Congo and Rwanda. As in many previous agreement, the dismantling of the FDLR figures prominently. If you like to dive deeper into why that may prove complicated, have a look at my recent essay about the group…

Christoph N. Vogel@ethuin.bsky.social · last yr.

Right on time for Labour Day, my latest piece of work which investigates the interplay of violent conflict, economic governance and the politics of conflict in eastern Congo through the prism of the FDLR’s “nonconventional logistics”. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A true intellectual treat and privilege to participate in this timely workshop convened by @alondra.bsky.social @tcarayannis.bsky.social and Marie-Thérèse Png last week under Albert Einstein’s perennial sights at IAS.

New report on how the outsourcing of warfare has become an ever more dominant feature of conflict in eastern Congo — with its very own protracted logics but not entirely unlike other theatres of contemporary wars. Read on and download below. www.ebuteli.org/publications...

Fighting Fire with Fire in Eastern Congo:The Wazalendo Phenomenon and the Outsourcing of Warfare | Ebuteli

This report traces the evolution of the Wazalendo (“patriots”) phenomenon, an eclectic coalition of armed groups which became key allies of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FA...

ebuteli.org

Right on time for Labour Day, my latest piece of work which investigates the interplay of violent conflict, economic governance and the politics of conflict in eastern Congo through the prism of the FDLR’s “nonconventional logistics”. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Nonconventional Logistics: Rebellion, Resources and Rationalities in eastern Congo

Research on war economies is dominated by positivist paradigms of rationality and epistemic assumptions of alterity. Such frames misread how rebellion…

sciencedirect.com

Timely piece. Open Doors, some type of a messianic misinformation outlet, has also been instrumental in propagating the 12 February fake massacre of Christians reported from eastern Congo’s Beni area. Happy Easter everyone!

Afrique XXI@afriquexxi.bsky.social · last yr.

Aux #États-Unis, des politiques chrétiens, en particulier évangéliques, affirment que les croyants au #Nigeria seraient victimes de violences, voire de "génocide". Le politiste Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Monclos questionne ces dénonciations et les biais des promoteurs de ces thèses⬇️

On this day in 2017, Michael J. Sharp and Zaida Catalán were assassinated while investigating war crimes in Congo’s Kasai region. Most people behind this political murder enjoy impunity until today, just as much as others involved in killings in the region for over three decades.

Ali Kony was supposed to succeed his father Joseph Kony at the helm of the LRA. He acted as the LRA's 'foreign affairs minister', but decided to escape.This is a story about Ali, and what the LRA still means today. My article in @newhumanitarian.bsky.social www.thenewhumanitarian.org/feature/2025...

#Germany perfectly aligning with global trends in tonight’s post-election TV shows. Election winners (except one…🌹) agitating in favour of breaking existing international and national law, losers timidly defending it.

Germany — Today is a good day to vote against Nazis, and anyone abetting or supporting them.

“[…] Against this backdrop, the current escalation seems increasingly reminiscent of the turmoil and regional conflagration of the 1990s.” Written a year ago, where are we now? newleftreview.org/sidecar/post... @newleftreview.bsky.social

Christoph N. Vogel, Intractable Crisis — Sidecar

Escalation in the DRC.

newleftreview.org

If you’ve never been there and all you read is the headlines you’d be forgiven for thinking that the DRC is just a basket case but for all its problems - and there are many - Bukavu is really one of the most beautiful places.

This morning, M23 entered #Bukavu and took control of key locations including the governor’s residence and Ruzizi 1 border crossing. Amidst broader confusion, M23 entry had been erroneously reported since Friday night owing to inconclusive videos circulating on social media.

Yesterday, I briefed the European Parliament on the escalating crisis in eastern Congo. The session can be streamed here: multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/webstream...

Delegation to the Africa-EU Parliamentary Assembly Ordinary Meeting - Multimedia Centre

The multimedia platform of the European Parliament is the official public available repository of the media production of the Secretariat of the European Parliament, managed by the Directorate-General...

multimedia.europarl.europa.eu

Version française de notre analyse, avec @judithverweijen.bsky.social, du focus parfois exclusif et malsain sur les ressources naturelles dans la couverture de l’escalade des conflits dans l’est du Congo. www.jeuneafrique.com/1657155/poli...

Non, le conflit en RDC n’est pas qu’une histoire de « minerais de sang » - Jeune Afrique.com

Même si imputer la crise dans l’est du pays à une simple soif pour les ressources minières est séduisant, les médias internationaux, en se contentant de cette version incomplète, nourrissent un terrea...

jeuneafrique.com

Mainstream discourse on conflict in eastern #Congo overemphasizes the role of natural resources. This precludes a more solid and thorough analysis overall. @judithverweijen.bsky.social and I explain how and why 👇🏼

The New Humanitarian@newhumanitarian.bsky.social · last yr.

Most reporting on the M23 crisis in DR Congo is using mistaken framings, suggesting the conflict is purely driven by a desire to plunder the region’s rich mineral resources. Opinion from @judithverweijen.bsky.social and @ethuin.bsky.social: ⬇️

M23’s resurgence is just one piece of a much larger regional crisis. Centre Fellow @ethuin.bsky.social explains the dynamics at play in the #EasternCongo in our latest rapid insight piece: www.armedgroupscentre.org/m23drc-vogel

Centre on Armed Groups — The M23 crisis in the DRC

armedgroupscentre.org

Heureux d’avoir contribué au dernier article de la toujours excellente @justinebrabant.bsky.social

Mediapart@mediapart.fr · last yr.

RDC: après avoir pris Goma, les rebelles du M23 poursuivent leur assaut sur le Sud-Kivu Par Justine Brabant

In a new Q&A piece for the Centre, Fellow @ethuin.bsky.social unpacks the complexities of the #M23 conflict and the broader crisis in the #EasternDRC. Read it here: www.armedgroupscentre.org/m23drc-vogel

Just deleted my previous tweet citing an RFI-reported OCHA number of 3000 killed in #Goma last week. I am told this number may not be wrong but also that the current state of oversight does neither allow to confirm or infirm this count.

🇨🇩 Conflit au Kivu : la crainte de l’escalade Il y a quelques jours, le groupe armé M23 s’emparait de Goma. La prise de la ville est-elle un tournant dans le conflit entre la RDC et le Rwanda ? Quelles conséquences pour les civils ? 🎧 @franceculture.fr www.radiofrance.fr/francecultur...

Having taken control of key parts of #Goma (perhaps still a little early to talk in absolute terms), M23 and allies are now progressing in South Kivu, reducing distance to #Kavumu airport where important contingents of FARDC and Burundian forces have been concentrating recently.

Fighting continues this morning in several parts of #Goma as further M23 troops move in from western side (and seem to gain ground for now). Ambulances caught in crossfire. In parallel, demonstrators have attacked embassies in #Kinshasa, torching the French & Rwandan premises.

So tonight I am not sharing any updates on #Goma because anything I followed up on in the last few hours I wasn’t able to verify or triangulate beyond reasonable doubt. Except perhaps that there is much less shooting in town tonight than during the day, and very little internet.

With the arrival of the #M23 in the city of Goma, the Congo crisis has entered a next stage and level of intensification. Many wonder why this could happen. In an analysis written a few months ago @ethuin.bsky.social and I provide some background.

Koen Vlassenroot@kvlassen.bsky.social · 2y ago

With @ethuin.bsky.social I recently wrote a comment on why in the case of protracted conflict in the DR #Congo, international ‘peace-building’ schemes are obsolete, and on how new and ever-changing global and local dynamics are not necessarily producing better options for peace.

This morning, #Goma emerges in limbo with an unclear, highly dynamic situation. A wealth of footage circulates (mostly unverified), showing either M23 and Rwandan forces on one side, and FARDC and wazalendo on the other. Skirmishes are underway in various parts of town.

M23 troops further advancing towards downtown #Goma tonight, including airport. Many FARDC fleeing and/or in surrender talks, but heavy fighting (involving wazalendo?) in some areas, no sight of European contractors.

Reports on M23 troops entering northern #Goma in parallel to ongoing Security Council meeting. Here, stills from Bénédiction fuel station in Monigi, 2.5km from Goma airport. Tonight could be decisive, eyes on eastern #Congo

Fighting resumed this morning around Goma (shelling in Rusayo and combats between Monigi and Kibati). Goma airport has been closed by government authorities for the time being. Latest AFC (M23) communiqué declares “closure of airspace” over Goma.