KINSHASA — A newly signed peace agreement aimed at ending conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo appeared to be unraveling Monday, with the DR Congo and Burundi accusing neighboring Rwanda after attacks by M23 rebels near border areas.
DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi accused Rwanda of “violating” the accord — signed last Thursday in Washington at the urging of US President Donald Trump — as the M23 made a rapid advance threatening the city of Uvira, near the border with Burundi. Local and military sources said hundreds of fleeing Congolese and allied Burundian soldiers had sought refuge inside Burundi as a result.
“Despite our good faith and the recently ratified agreement, it is clear that Rwanda is already violating its commitments,” Tshisekedi told lawmakers, referring to recent attacks by Rwandan forces in South Kivu province.
“On the very day after the signing, units of the Rwandan Defense Force carried out and supported attacks with heavy weaponry,” he said.
Burundi then denounced attacks by Rwanda into its territory in an area bordering eastern DR Congo, as the violence intensified.
The Burundian foreign ministry said on X it condemned “the recent provocation by Rwanda, which dropped bombs on Burundian territory” near Cibitoke, a town bordering Rwanda and the DR Congo. The attack wounded two people, “including a 12-year-old child.”
Violence in the mineral-rich east of the DR Congo intensified earlier this year when fighters from the M23 militia, allegedly backed by Rwanda, seized the key eastern city of Goma in January, followed by Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province.
Hopes were high that peace could be within reach after Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame signed a deal last week in Washington at a ceremony presided over by Trump.
The deal includes an economic component intended to secure US supplies of critical minerals present in the region, as Washington seeks to challenge China’s dominance in the sector.
Though Trump hailed the agreement as a “miracle,” many observers doubted it would hold.
Fresh fighting the very next day forced hundreds of people in eastern DR Congo to flee across the border into Rwanda. Monday’s developments further worsened the outlook.
Mass Displacements
Since taking up arms again in 2021, the M23 has seized swathes of territory, displacing tens of thousands of people and triggering a spiraling humanitarian crisis.
On Sunday, United Nations experts said Rwanda’s army and the M23 had carried out summary executions and forced mass displacements of civilians in the region.
The militia’s push toward Uvira has brought it closer to the last major town in South Kivu province yet to fall to the group. On Monday, clashes were reported near Luvungi, a settlement about 37 miles north of Uvira, according to military sources. Bombings were also reported in Sange, between Uvira and Luvungi, according to the same sources.
While Rwanda continues to deny providing military support to the M23, it insists it faces an existential threat from armed groups in eastern DR Congo linked to the 1994 genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda.
Enters Burundi
A succession of ceasefire agreements for eastern DR Congo has been brokered and broken in rapid succession, without ending the fighting that has raged for 30 years.
At various times, the conflict has seen neighboring countries including Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi intervene, either to back armed groups fighting the DR Congo government or to support authorities in Kinshasa.
With Uvira situated across Lake Tanganyika from Burundi’s economic capital Bujumbura, Burundi views the prospect of the city falling to the M23 as an existential threat.
