A cautious calm has settled over the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) city of Uvira in South Kivu province, as residents begin emerging from their homes following its capture by M23 rebels.
The capture earlier this week threatens to derail a United States-brokered peace agreement, signed with much fanfare and overseen by President Donald Trump a week ago, between Congolese and Rwandan leaders, with Washington accusing Rwanda on Friday of igniting the offensive.
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Regional authorities say at least 400 civilians, including women and children, have been killed in the violence between the cities of Bukavu and Uvira, both now under M23 control.
Al Jazeera is the only international broadcaster in Uvira, where correspondent Alain Uaykani on Saturday described an uneasy calm in the port city on the northern tip of Lake Tanganyika, which sits directly across from Burundi’s largest city, Bujumbura.
Uaykani said government and allied militias, known as “Wazalendo”, which had been using the city as a headquarters, began fleeing even before M23 fighters entered.
Residents who fled as the Rwanda-backed group advanced have begun returning to their homes, though most shops and businesses remain shuttered.
“People are coming out, they feel the fear is behind them,” Uaykani said, though he noted the situation remains fragile with signs of intense combat visible throughout the city.
Bienvenue Mwatumabire, a resident of Uvira, told Al Jazeera he was at work when fighting between rebels and government forces broke out, and he heard gunshots from a neighbouring village and decided to stop, but said that “today we have noticed things are getting back to normal.”
Baoleze Beinfait, another Uvira resident, said people in the city were not being harassed by the rebels, but added, “We will see how things are in the coming days.”
M23’s spokesperson defended the offensive, claiming the group had “liberated” Uvira from what he called “terrorist forces”. The rebels say they are protecting ethnic Tutsi communities in eastern DRC, a region that has seen fighting intensify since earlier this year.
The offensive, which began on December 2, has displaced more than 200,000 people across South Kivu province, according to local United Nations partners.
Rwanda accused of backing rebels
South Kivu officials said Rwandan special forces and foreign mercenaries were operating in Uvira “in clear violation” of both the recent Washington accords and earlier ceasefire agreements reached in Doha, Qatar.
At the UN Security Council on Friday, US ambassador Mike Waltz accused Rwanda of leading the region “towards increased instability and war,” warning that Washington would hold spoilers to peace accountable.
Waltz said Rwanda has maintained strategic control of M23 since the group re-emerged in 2021, with between 5,000 and 7,000 Rwandan troops fighting alongside the rebels in Congo as of early December.
“Kigali has been intimately involved in planning and executing the war in eastern DRC,” Waltz told the UNSC, referring to Rwanda’s capital.
Rwanda’s UN ambassador denied the allegations, accusing the DRC of violating the ceasefire. Rwanda acknowledges having troops in eastern DRC but says they are there to safeguard its security, particularly against Hutu militia groups that fled across the border to Congo after Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
The fall of Uvira has raised the alarm in neighbouring Burundi, which has deployed forces to the region. Burundi’s UN ambassador warned that “restraint has its limits,” saying continued attacks would make it difficult to avoid direct confrontation between the two countries.
More than 30,000 refugees have fled into Burundi in recent days.
The DRC’s foreign minister urged the UNSC to hold Rwanda accountable, saying “impunity has gone on for far too long”.
A report by the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats project said Rwanda provided significant support to M23’s Uvira offensive, calling it the group’s most consequential operation since March.
Al Jazeera’s UN correspondent Kristen Saloomey said UNSC members were briefed by experts who noted that civilians in DRC are not benefitting from the recent agreements negotiated between Kinshasa and Kigali.
More than 100 armed groups are fighting for control of mineral-rich eastern DRC near the Rwandan border. The conflict has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with more than seven million people displaced across the region.
The M23 group is not party to the Washington-mediated negotiations between DRC and Rwanda, participating instead in separate talks with the Congolese government hosted by Qatar.