Saturday, February 15

The Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group has continued their invasion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) over the last few weeks, and they recently seized the second airport of their invasion.

The rebels are a militia known as M23, which stands for March 23 Movement. The group is made up primarily of Tutsis, an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region who reside in the Rwanda-Burundi area. In 2012, they took control of the city of Goma, but were defeated by Congolese and UN forces just months later after losing some Rwandan support.

M23 began their incursion earlier in January, invading the area north of Goma, before storming and taking control of Goma on January 27. Soon after taking over, they closed down Goma's airspace, trapping millions of people inside, and they established that they plan to hold the city for a long period of time.

While Goma is located on the southern border of North Kivu, a province in the eastern part of the DRC on the border with Rwanda, the fighting has continued over the past few weeks, and M23 has made advances into the province of South Kivu. Both provinces border Lake Kivu, which has Goma on its north side and another city by the name of Bukavu on its south side.

Just north of Bukavu is the area of Kavumu, which is home to the city's airport. Bukavu is one of the DRC's largest cities, home to over 1.1 million people. However, like Goma, it is located in the eastern portion of the country, which is a region that is extremely rich in valuable minerals. An abundance of materials like gold, bismuth, beryllium, and tin in South Kivu have led to countless conflicts over resources, with major armed groups attempting to exploit the local materials. Out of these groups, though, M23 is the strongest with its Rwandan backing.

Now, M23 has taken control of Bukavu as well, and it maintains control over the entire area around Lake Kivu, which stretches into Rwanda. Overall, residents have not reported much fighting-- locals have stated that M23 seems to have stormed the city with minimal to no conflict.

Congolese President Felix Tshesekedi has blamed Rwanda for the conflict, claiming that they maintain "expansionist ambitions," and he called for sanctions on the East African country during this weekend's Munich Security Conference.

Similarly, the annual meeting of the African Union is taking place this weekend in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa to discuss how to halt the conflict. However, due to measures being taken to stop M23, Tshesekedi is not able to attend, so Congolese Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka will take his place at the summit.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): Your skin constantly sheds. The current skin you’re in will be gone in a month-- our skin sheds 30,000 to 40,000 skin cells each day. In fact, over 100 of those cells probably flaked off while you were reading this sentence. However, it rejuvenates just as quickly as it deteriorates. In addition, regular exfoliation twice a week helps get rid of lingering skin cells to make room for a fresh layer.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): If you give your trust to a person who does not deserve it, you actually give him the power to destroy you. (Khaled Saad)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Billet-doux (noun, bill-ee-DOO) - A billet-doux is a love letter. The word's plural is billets-doux.

In a Sentence: Since their relationship was long-distance, the couple thought it would be cute to send each other billets-doux on their anniversary.