Reuters
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The Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group said it would withdraw from the eastern Congolese town of Uvira at the request of the US government, which had criticized its capture last week as a threat to mediation efforts.
The rebels entered Uvira, on the border with Burundi, less than a week after the presidents of Congo and Rwanda met with US President Donald Trump in Washington and confirmed their commitment to a peace deal known as the Washington Accord.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that Rwanda’s actions in eastern Congo violate the Washington agreement and vowed to “take action to ensure our commitments to the president are kept.”
Rwanda denies supporting M23 and blames Congolese and Burundian forces for the renewed fighting. A UN Group of Experts report in July said Rwanda exercised command and control over the rebels.
Corneille Nanger, leader of the rebel Congo River Alliance, which includes M23, said in a post on X overnight that the rebels would withdraw.
He said the move was a “unilateral confidence-building measure to give the Doha peace process the best possible chance of success.”
The M23 is not taking part in the Washington-mediated negotiations, but is participating in separate parallel negotiations with the Congolese government hosted by Qatar.
A civil society activist in Uvira told Reuters on Tuesday that rebels were still present there.
Rebel officials said both M23 and Congolese forces would withdraw five kilometers (3 miles) from Uvira to establish a buffer zone, which M23 had proposed at a news conference last week.
Congo and Burundi did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
M23 launched a blitzkrieg attack in January that took control of two major cities in eastern Congo, killing thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands more.
Since then, rebels have been working to establish a parallel government in the east, potentially pushing the vast central African country into a permanent rift.
