The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Felix Tshisekedi, has accused the M23 rebels in DRC of not fully withdrawing from areas seized in the country’s east despite an agreement made in November 2022.
He stated that the group is “simply moving around, redeploying elsewhere, and they stay in the towns that they have captured” during a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davis, Switzerland this week.
This is the most outspoken statement from the Congolese authorities on how they view the implementation of the peace deal. The M23, a Tutsi-led group, was supposed to withdraw from recently seized positions by January 15th as part of efforts to end a conflict that has displaced at least 450,000 people and sparked a diplomatic crisis between DRC and neighbouring Rwanda. M23 denied the accusation and pointed out that is the government that does not respect the ceasefire and also continues to arm armed groups.
M23
Last month, the M23 rebel group pledged to retreat from the town of Kibumba which is located almost 12 miles from the commercial city of Goma, which the M23 rebels briefly took over in 2012. Kibumba is of strategic importance as it lies on the current front line between the M23 and Congolese troops, on a key highway leading to Goma. In December, M23 stated that they had chosen to hand over Kibumba to the Congolese troops as a “goodwill gesture” following peace talks in Angola.
The M23 rebels in DRC re-emerged after a long period of dormancy late last year and has since made several notable advances through the country’s North Kivu province causing thousands of people to flee the region. The M23 rebel group has also been a source of tension between DRC and neighbouring Rwanda after DRC accused Rwanda of backing the group, something which Kigali denies. Yet the United States, France and other Western countries have agreed with DRC’s assessment. Talks between DRC and Rwanda in Angola led to a temporary truce agreement on November 23 whereby M23 was supposed to lay down arms and retreat from occupied territories, something that they did not do.
Image Credit: File: Ludovic Marin/AFP
