UN Special Envoy Huang Xia called for greater coordination of efforts to resolve the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Wednesday, amid escalating violence by the M23 rebel group and a deepening humanitarian crisis.

Huang Xia, special envoy for the Great Lakes Region, stressed the urgent need to resolve the root causes of the ongoing DRC conflict, as the continuing disturbances impact human lives and rights, particularly endangering the lives of children. He also acknowledged all efforts towards peace and stressed the importance of complementarity and unity of vision among the various initiatives. Xia said, “This somber reality means that we have to strive to redouble efforts, to see how together we can transform recent political and diplomatic progress into an irreversible shift to peace.”

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, the largest country in sub-Saharan Africa, has witnessed turmoil for more than thirty years following the genocide in neighboring Rwanda in 1994. The eastern region of the country is rich in minerals and is attractive to numerous armed groups that compete for power and control over these resources with each other and with central authorities.

At the beginning of 2025, rebels from the M23 group occupied key cities and towns in the east of the country. Among them is the city of Goma, which is an important hub for trade and transport. Violence in the occupied cities included attacks on critical civil infrastructure and dealt severe blows to the humanitarian situation.

The capture resulted in a refugee crisis, a threat of food and water shortages, overcrowding in hospitals due to the outbreak of infectious diseases, and various violent acts, including sexual abuse and the collective abduction of children. Due to conflict, the human rights situation across the DRC remains dire, with the most basic human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and the media, being frequently under attack.

International peace initiatives aimed at resolving the conflict include the Nairobi and Luanda processes established in 2022 by regional economic communities, the Qatar-led Doha initiative, and the UN peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO, which has been present in the country since 1999 and has more than 10,000 troops.