The M23 rebel group has announced it is withdrawing from the strategic eastern Congolese city of Uvira, following what it described as a request from United States mediators seeking to ease escalating tensions in the region. In a statement released Wednesday, M23 said it agreed to pull its fighters out of Uvira a day after talks with U.S. intermediaries. Local sources and humanitarian workers reported that rebel units had already begun leaving the city, with the withdrawal expected to be completed by Thursday.
Uvira, located on the shores of Lake Tanganyika near the borders with Burundi and Rwanda, is a key commercial and security hub in South Kivu province. The city fell to M23 fighters only days after the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement in Washington on December 4. Kigali has repeatedly denied accusations by the UN and Western governments that it backs the group. The M23 was not a party to the Washington talks, and its advance into Uvira underscored the fragility of the agreement. The group said its decision to leave the city was taken “in the interest of peace,” though it did not indicate whether it would redeploy elsewhere.
The conflict between M23 and Congolese government forces has intensified over the past year, killing thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians across eastern DRC, according to UN estimates. International pressure has been mounting on all sides to de-escalate, amid warnings that continued fighting risks further destabilising the wider Great Lakes region.
