Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have said they would withdraw from the eastern Congo town of Uvira at the request of the U.S. administration, which had criticised the seizure of the town last week as a threat to mediation efforts.
The rebels entered Uvira, on the border with Burundi, less than a week after the presidents of Congo and Rwanda met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington and affirmed their commitment to a peace deal known as the Washington Accords.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Rwanda’s actions in eastern Congo violated the Washington Accords and vowed to “take action to ensure promises made to the President are kept.”
Rwanda denies supporting M23 and has blamed Congolese and Burundian forces for the renewed fighting. A report by a United Nations group of experts in July said Rwanda exercised command and control over the rebels.
Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance of insurgents that includes M23, said in a post overnight on X that the rebels would withdraw.
The move was a “unilateral trust-building measure to give the Doha peace process the maximum chance to succeed,” he said.
M23 is not party to the Washington-mediated negotiations but has been participating in separate, parallel talks with the Congolese government, hosted by Qatar.
A rebel source said both M23 and Congolese forces would withdraw 5 km (3 miles) from Uvira to establish a buffer zone, something M23 had proposed at a news conference last week.
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However, General Sylvain Ekenge, spokesperson for Congo’s army, told Reuters on Tuesday that Congolese forces remained intent on regaining control of Uvira.
“Uvira is a city in the DRC. We will do everything in our power to reclaim the city and secure it,” he said.
The Congo and Burundi governments did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Tuesday, hundreds of Uvira residents participated in a march meant to thank M23 for driving out Congolese and allied forces.
“The motivation that drove us to organise this march today is that we are liberated after facing enormous harassment and trauma from the horrors of war.
Today, we are liberated by the revolutionary army,” said organiser Freddy Mutupeke.
M23 staged a lightning offensive in January, seizing eastern Congo’s two biggest cities in fighting that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more.
The insurgents have since worked to establish a parallel administration in the east, potentially setting the vast Central African country up for an enduring fracture.
