By HAN News Desk
UVIRA — Fighting intensified Monday near the eastern Congolese town of Uvira as M23 rebels clashed with pro-government fighters, despite the rebel group’s recent pledge to withdraw from the strategic border city, local officials and residents said.
The clashes erupted days after the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group announced it would pull its forces out of Uvira, a key city near the border with Burundi that it seized earlier this month. The takeover came shortly after the governments of Congo and Rwanda signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement in Washington, an accord hailed by President Donald Trump as a “great miracle.”
Despite the agreement, tensions have continued to rise. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused Rwanda of violating the Dec. 4 peace deal and warned of unspecified retaliatory measures. Rwanda has rejected the accusations, saying instead that Congo and Burundi are breaching the ceasefire.
M23’s political leader, Corneille Nangaa, said last week that the group would “unilaterally withdraw its forces from the city of Uvira” at the request of U.S. mediators.
However, local and security sources said that while some fighters left, others remained in the town in plain clothes.
Heavy gunfire was reported across Uvira on Monday as M23 fighters exchanged fire with pro-government militias known as the Wazalendo.
“The shooting could be heard across the city,” said Mafikiri Mashimango, a local civil society leader, speaking to The Associated Press. Residents stayed indoors as daily activity came to a halt, he said.
Fighting appeared concentrated in the hills and neighborhoods south and southwest of the city, including areas near the port of Kalundu on Lake Tanganyika, according to residents.
A bomb struck the village of Mulongwe, southeast of Uvira, one resident said by phone. “Bullets are flying over our houses,” the resident said, requesting anonymity for security reasons.
Congo’s armed forces dismissed the M23’s withdrawal announcement as “a media stunt aimed at misleading public opinion,” accusing the rebels of redeploying to strategic positions in the hills overlooking Uvira.
Eastern Congo has been plagued by decades of armed conflict involving dozens of rebel groups, many competing for control of territory and mineral resources. The resurgence of the M23 has heightened regional tensions, drawing in neighboring countries and international mediators.
