Fighters from the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group have withdrawn from several areas of the violence-plagued eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the group, locals and the military told AFP on Monday.
The United States is attempting to enforce an unsuccessful peace deal between the anti-government M23 and the Congolese government in return for privileged access to the eastern DRC’s vast mineral riches.
The M23 launched an offensive in December on the city of Uvira, in the eastern province of South Kivu, at a time when the DRC and Rwanda were in the process of ratifying a peace deal under US mediation.
The group withdrew in January under pressure from Washington, which on Friday again said the belligerents should respect the ceasefire.
Early on Monday, M23 fighters left several areas north of Uvira near the border with Burundi, Rwanda’s southern neighbour, the armed group, local officials and the military said.
The most important of these is the town of Sange, a major crossroads lying 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of Uvira.
Locals said pro-government militia fighters known as “wazalendo” had moved into Sange to take their place.
“M23 has withdrawn from Sange,” senior local official Paul Fikiri Mudeda told AFP.
The army’s spokesperson in the region, lieutenant Reagan Mbuyi, said the M23 had retreated from Sange and the nearby areas of “Kabunambo… Mutarule and Bwegera.”
A security source within the M23 confirmed the fighters had withdrawn from Sange and the surrounding area.
But it continued to control Kamanyola, a town 70 kilometres north of Uvira, where the borders of the DRC, Rwanda and Burundi converge.
“We are returning to the positions we held before taking Uvira,” the M23 source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
They said Kamanyola was “not included in the withdrawal.”
Locals said pro-government militia fighters “entered Sange on Monday” after the M23 left.
“There’s a real sense of jubilation,” one inhabitant told AFP.
“Young people, women, children — even school kids — are all celebrating right now.”
For more than 30 years the mineral-rich eastern DRC has been a battleground between various armed groups, vying for control of its many mines.
Since 2021, the M23 has seized swathes of territory in the eastern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, bordering South Kivu.
The seizure of Uvira marked a major expansion southwards into South Kivu of its sphere of influence.
