As the conflict in eastern Congo intensifies, the UN has imposed sanctions on leaders of armed groups operating in the region, including the Rwandan-backed AFC/M23 rebels and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or the FDLR. The fighting intensified after Rwandan-backed forces advanced, seizing large sections of eastern Congo. This offensive has caused mass displacement; internal displacement has jumped to seven million since the start of the conflict, as many Congolese have fled to cities such as Goma and Uvira. The region is facing severe human rights abuses, and the UN has documented war crimes including arbitrary detentions, sexual violence, summary executions, and forced recruitment of civilians and children. This conflict is rooted in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, which pushed genocidal forces across the border into eastern Congo. These forces would later form the FDLR, fueling a cross-border proxy conflict for multiple decades.

These sanctions, approved by the UN and applied under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, include an asset freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo against the organizations and individuals added to the DRC sanctions list. The United States had already sanctioned two of the same individuals several weeks before the UN’s ruling. US State Department spokesperson Thomas Pigott gave the reason for the sanctions as an effort “to address threats to stability and prosperity in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.” The UN has made remarks on similar past designations, stating, “These designations demonstrate the international community’s continued determination to fight against those who oppose the disarmament of rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and those responsible for the recruitment of children and serious human rights abuses.” The UN and its Security Council have made clear that sanctions will continue for individuals and organizations that break international law.

While the UN continues its attempt to contain human rights abuses through limited economic and travel restrictions on these armed groups and their leaders, these same individuals are working with the very governments that are a part of the UN Charter, as the FDLR, while sanctioned by the UN, fights alongside Congolese government forces, and M23, also sanctioned, is financially backed by Rwanda. These sanctions target armed groups that act as proxy actors and military arms of recognized governments in a tangled, multi-party conflict. Sanctions are effective in limiting the power and ability of individuals and armed groups, but they do not directly address the powerful state allies that fund, train, and fight alongside these groups. Solutions in ending the violence in the region must directly address the state actors funding crimes against humanity. Solutions must bring state actors to the table to discuss a withdrawal of soldiers and a peace treaty, not through proxy groups, but as established government bodies.

The conflict traces directly back to the Rwandan genocide of 1994, during which over 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by the Hutu-led government. In response, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, led by Paul Kagame, overthrew the genocidal regime and took power in Rwanda. The victory triggered a mass movement of Hutu refugees into neighboring Zaire, now the DRC, including many responsible for the genocide itself. Among them was the entire Hutu Rwandan army, weapons and all. They would establish themselves as the FDLR and use eastern Congo as a base to launch attacks back into Rwanda. Rwanda has viewed instability in eastern DRC as a national security threat ever since, and has stayed active in the region for three decades. In 1996, Rwanda intervened directly in Zaire, backing a rebellion that toppled dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and installed Laurent-Désiré Kabila, who renamed the country the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kabila later turned against his Rwandan backers. Rwanda responded by supporting a second rebellion in 1998, drawing in several other African nations and igniting the Second Congo War, a conflict that has since claimed an estimated six million lives. Rwanda’s involvement evolved into support for M23, which first emerged in 2012 and now forms the core of the Alliance Fleuve Congo, whose leader, Corneille Nangaa, was among those sanctioned this month. The conflict has also enabled large-scale smuggling of Congolese minerals into Rwanda, a financial incentive many analysts argue has become as central to the war’s persistence as the original security grievances.

These sanctions alone are unlikely to end the fighting in eastern Congo. The individuals sanctioned this month can be replaced within their organizations, and the flow of smuggled minerals into Rwanda will likely continue regardless of who leads which faction. What these sanctions do accomplish is placing a formal, documented mark of international condemnation on those responsible for the abuses driving displacement and civilian deaths in the region. The coming months will reveal whether the UN and its member states are willing to move beyond individual sanctions and apply real pressure on Rwanda’s government directly. Until that happens, the millions displaced from Goma, Uvira, and surrounding areas remain caught between a peacekeeping mission that is winding down and a proxy war that shows no sign of doing the same. Lasting peace in the region depends not on how many commanders are added to a sanctions list, but on whether the states benefiting from this conflict are finally made to answer for it.