M23 Rebels Announce Withdrawal from Key DRC Town Under US Pressure
Uvira, Democratic Republic of the Congo – The M23 rebel group announced on Tuesday that it would withdraw from the strategically important town of Uvira in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, following a direct request from United States mediators. The announcement comes just one week after the group seized the town, jeopardizing two major peace agreements.
In a signed statement posted on X by Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) rebel coalition that includes M23, the group said fighters would withdraw from the South Kivu province town “as per United States mediation request.” The coalition described the move as a “unilateral trust-building measure” aimed at giving the “Doha peace process the maximum chance to succeed.”
A Strategic Retreat Amid Stalled Ceasefires
The announcement follows a significant escalation that saw the Rwanda-backed militia capture Uvira last week. The takeover directly threatened a US-brokered peace agreement between the DRC and Rwandan governments, signed just days earlier in Washington, D.C., and a separate framework agreement signed between M23 and the Congolese government in Doha, Qatar, in November.
Reporting from Uvira on Tuesday morning, however, Al Jazeera’s Alain Uaykani noted that “nothing had changed,” with M23 fighters still visible in the town. The coalition’s statement included a warning that the Congolese army and its allies had previously “exploited similar withdrawals to retake territory and target civilians perceived as sympathetic to the rebels.”
US Diplomacy and Regional Tensions
The U.S. responded forcefully to last week’s capture. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Rwanda—which denies backing the M23 rebels—of a “clear violation of the Washington Accords.” In a post on X, Rubio stated the U.S. would “take action to ensure promises made to the president are kept.”
Paul-Simon Handy, East Africa regional director at the Institute for Security Studies, told Al Jazeera that M23’s actions in Uvira were “a negotiating tactic” to push the DRC government for greater concessions. He suggested the withdrawal announcement was likely “a direct consequence of the very strong” U.S. reaction.
“Taking over and now saying we are withdrawing is a tactic we’ve seen … elsewhere by the M23 – taking over territories, appearing to withdraw, to take them again,” Handy said.
Humanitarian Crisis and Regional Spillover
The recent fighting has exacerbated an already severe humanitarian crisis. The rebels’ advance into Uvira, a town on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, forced approximately 200,000 people to flee, according to recent reports. The conflict has now reached the doorstep of Burundi, raising fears of a broader regional conflict. Burundi has maintained troops in eastern DRC for years as part of regional security efforts.
The M23 statement called for “guarantors of the peace process” to oversee the demilitarization and protection of Uvira’s population and infrastructure, including monitoring the ceasefire with “the deployment of a neutral force.”
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