DRC: M23 Rebels Now Extorting Schools to Finance Terrorism
In eastern DRC, M23 rebels have implemented a horrifying system of school extortion to finance their operations. Parents are forced to pay illegal taxes that fund weapons instead of education, creating a tragic cycle where children's futures are literally being used to destroy their present.
A closed school in eastern DRC where M23 rebels have imposed illegal education taxes on local families
'The money I pay for my child's education is being used to buy weapons that destroy schools,' laments a father, his voice breaking with grief.
In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a chilling system is taking root in territories occupied by the RDF-M23-AFC armed groups, backed by Rwanda. In these areas where terror and impunity reign, schools - once the last refuge of innocence - have been diverted from their primary mission of education. They have become a funding source for warfare.
The Weaponization of Education
Numerous parents report illegal taxes imposed by RDF-M23-AFC forces to enroll their children in primary school. This practice openly violates the Congolese Constitution, which guarantees free education. The collected fees benefit neither classrooms nor school supplies. Instead, they fund weapons procurement which, in a tragic irony, are turned against the very children whose families provided the financing.
Double Burden on Local Communities
Local communities face a devastating double burden. They watch their children being denied quality education while their meager resources fund massacres in their own villages. The RDF-M23-AFC's methods mirror those of the most radical terrorist organizations: forced recruitment of minors, large-scale atrocities, systematic rape as a weapon of war, and deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure.
International Sanctions and Response
The RDF-M23-AFC movement operates openly despite international condemnation. It faces both U.S. and European sanctions for extreme violence against civilian populations. Washington and Brussels directly accuse the armed group of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. These restrictive measures target not only the combatants themselves but also certain Rwandan officials, including asset freezes, travel bans, and surveillance of financial networks suspected of funding the rebellion.
UN Documentation of Human Rights Violations
The United Nations Joint Human Rights Office has recently reported massive violations by M23: summary executions, forced displacement, widespread sexual violence, and village destruction. Detailed reports confirm the systematic recruitment of child soldiers and the use of terror to control civilian populations.
Rwanda's Shadow
Behind these atrocities, Rwanda's role remains under scrutiny. Kigali stands accused of providing military, logistical, and political support to the movement, violating international law and Congolese sovereignty. Multiple human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have gathered compelling evidence of this involvement.
This organized crime against a people's future cannot be met with silence. Allowing this situation to persist legitimizes a system where textbooks transform into ammunition and blackboards become walls of mourning. Education, the foundation of any nation, is being weaponized against Congolese youth. By extorting families, the militias and their Rwandan sponsors aren't just financing war - they're assassinating the very hope of a standing Congo.
Today in the Democratic Republic of Congo, schools no longer represent gateways to the future. Under RDF-M23-AFC terror, they have become death's dark treasury, where every franc extorted adds another bullet to a child's fate.
Jasmine Demraoui
Journalist in governance and climate reform, based in Windhoek.