DR Congo, M23 fighters trade accusations over ceasefire

A patrol car of the M23 movement patrols in Uvira on December 13, 2025. [AFP]

The DR Congo government and the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group accused each other Friday of violating an Angolan-mediated ceasefire in the DRC's troubled east.

Angola proposed a ceasefire to the DRC and Rwanda to start last Wednesday, which Kinshasa accepted "in principle", while not confirming that date, and Thursday brought a precarious lull in a region ravaged by 30 years of violence.

Since 2021 the region has laboured under the resurgence of the anti-government armed group M23, which has seized large swathes of territory in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, with the support of Kigali and its armed forces.

The armed group launched a new offensive in December on the town of Uvira, in the midst of the ratification of an agreement between the DRC and Rwanda under US mediation.

While Kinshasa immediately declared that it accepted "the principle" of the Angolan-brokered ceasefire, the M23 accused Kinshasa of "manipulation" for not confirming when it would begin.

Local sources and security sources said nonetheless there had been a lull since Wednesday in the fighting.

However, Friday saw the Congolese military accuse the M23 of having "attacked its positions in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu" and thereby "torpedoing the peace process."

The M23 denounced in an overnight statement "ceasefire violations" by Kinshasa forces.

AFP was unable to immediately verify the allegations with independent sources.

However, local sources said Friday that fighting had resumed around Minembwe, a town in the South Kivu highlands, where Congolese troops, backed by local militias and Burundian soldiers, have been battling a coalition of M23-affiliated militias for weeks.

Relative calm persists on other parts of the front line in South Kivu province, those sources added.

Countless armed groups are present in DR Congo's east and the warring parties sometimes use them as proxy forces.

Since the resurgence of the M23 in 2021, half a dozen ceasefires and truces have been signed and broken.