Violence continues in eastern Congo despite new peace agreement

Despite a high-profile peace agreement being signed in Washington on Thursday by the presidents of Congo and Rwanda, violence in eastern Congo continues. Since Monday, Burundian military sources told AFP that at least 20 Burundian soldiers fighting alongside the Congolese army against the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group have been killed.

Fighting has intensified around Kamanyola, a strategic border town near Rwanda and Burundi that is currently held by M23. Burundi has rushed reinforcements to stop the rebels from advancing towards Uvira, the last major town in South Kivu still under Congolese government control. Heavy explosions were reported throughout Friday, and hundreds of civilians fled across the border into Rwanda, AFP reports.

The peace agreement signed in Washington by Congolese president Félix Tshisekedi and Rwandan president Paul Kagame does not seem to have resulted in an actual ceasefire. The deal, witnessed and heavily promoted by US president Donald Trump, largely restates commitments the countries' foreign ministers made in June. That agreement also failed to halt hostilities on the ground.

As Congo peace deadline slips, Belgium's Prévot pushes for African role on visit to region

Belgian Foreign minister Maxime Prévot has urged stronger involvement from African nations and the African Union in efforts to end fighting in the...

belganewsagency.eu

Decades-long conflict

Eastern Congo has been engulfed by conflict for decades, with dozens of armed groups entrenched in the region. The resurgence of M23 in late 2021 sharply intensified fighting, culminating earlier this year in rebel advances that captured the provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu.

Kigali denies providing military aid to M23, maintaining that its interventions are defensive measures against the FDLR (an armed rebel movement founded by individuals responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide who fled to Congo).

Congo has once again committed to neutralising the FDLR in Thursday's agreement, but little progress has been made since June. Rwanda maintains that it is up to Kinshasa "to show how much and how fast they want peace".

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation keeps deteriorating. AFP was able to view a report written by UN experts, which concludes that M23 rebels and the Rwandan army have carried out executions and caused a mass population displacement in eastern Congo.

^{Civilians enter Rwanda after fleeing intense shelling in the bordering Kamanyola region, ​ the day after the ratification of a peace agreement between DR Congo and Rwanda. PHOTO © AFP}

Related news

Demonstrators call on EU to take action against violence in DRC

Activists from Amnesty International and the Congolese citizen movement Lucha gathered on Thursday in front of the European institutions to call...

belganewsagency.eu