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CONGO: Rwanda-backed rebels gained ground in eastern Congo on Wednesday despite the unilateral ceasefire they declared earlier this week, taking control of a town 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the provincial capital of Bukavu, civil society officials and residents told The Associated Press.
The M23 rebels on Monday announced the ceasefire on humanitarian grounds after pleas for the safe passage of aid and hundreds of thousands of displaced people. But Congo’s government has described the ceasefire as “false communication,” and the United Nations has noted reports of heavy fighting with Congolese forces in the mineral-rich region.
Néné Bintou, president of the civil society of South Kivu province, told the AP that the mining town of Nyabibwe was under the control of the M23. Nyabibwe is midway between Bukavu and Goma, the city the rebels seized last week and still control.
“They have taken over Nyabibwe since this morning from 9 a.m.,” said Moïse Bisimwa, a resident reached by phone. “So we are here, we are worried about the situation. Apparently, the ceasefire that was declared by the M23 is just smoke and mirrors.”
“The RDF/M23 Coalition is violating the unilaterally declared ceasefire and is facing fierce resistance from the FARDC around Nyabibwe,” the Congolese authorities said in a statement. The RDF stands for Rwandan Defense Forces, or Rwanda’s military.
“The RDF/M23 unilateral ceasefire was nothing but a Rwandan lie. Troops crossed the great barrier of Goma at night to attack the city of Nyabibwe,” the statement added.
The M23 rebels are backed by some 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to UN experts. That’s far more than in 2012 when they briefly captured Goma and then withdrew after international pressure. The M23 is the most potent of the more than 100 armed groups active in Congo’s east, which holds vast deposits critical to much of the world’s technology.

Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, told CNN on Monday that he didn’t know whether Rwandan military forces were in Congo but said his country would do what’s needed to protect itself.
Experts and analysts have expressed concern that Rwanda aims to take control of parts of Congo to ensure access to minerals. Rwanda’s government, meanwhile, has framed the conflict as the defense of ethnic Tutsis in eastern Congo from ethnic Hutu forces linked to the genocide in Rwanda three decades ago that killed some 800,000 Tutsi, moderate Hutus and others.
Rwandan forces have entered Congo in the past while asserting the same aim, helping to fuel what has become one of Africa’s longest-simmering wars, with millions of Congolese displaced.
Neighboring Uganda also has deployed soldiers inside Congo, with hundreds in Ituri province in the northeast since 2021 to fight the Allied Democratic Forces, another armed group, with the authorization of Congo’s president. Col. Deo Akiiki, deputy spokesperson for the Ugandan military, told the AP there had been no new deployments of soldiers to Congo in recent weeks.
After seizing control of Goma, a provincial capital of 2 million people at the heart of a region home to trillions of dollars in mineral wealth, the rebels were reported to be gaining ground in other areas of eastern Congo and advancing on Bukavu.
The rebels on Monday said they did not intend to seize Bukavu or other areas, though they earlier expressed ambition to march on Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, a thousand miles away. “However, we reiterate our commitment to protecting and defending the civilian population and our positions,” M23 rebel spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said.
In Goma, where the UN said almost 2,000 bodies of those killed in the violence were collected by the Red Cross and 787 bodies were still in health care facilities, residents continued to bury their loved ones.
“Our efforts are focused on preventing epidemics, expediting burials, and strengthening medical capacities,” said Jean Jonas Yaovi Tossa from the Goma office of OCHA, the UN humanitarian agency. “Humanitarian access is severely limited, and it is urgent to establish a humanitarian corridor.”
Meanwhile, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Wednesday called for the presentation of information and evidence regarding atrocities committed in eastern Congo.
“The Office will continue to investigate alleged crimes committed by any person, irrespective of affiliation or nationality and will not be limited to particular individuals, parties or members of specific groups,” the statement said.

“We want peace”
In Bukavu, a city of one million people that residents fear will become the next battleground, a crowd gathered for an ecumenical prayer service for peace, organized by local women.
“We are tired of the non-stop wars. We want peace,” one attendee, Jacqueline Ngengele, told AFP.
DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame are due to attend a joint summit of the eight-country East African Community and 16-member Southern African Development Community in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam on Saturday.
A day earlier, the UN Human Rights Council will convene a special session on the crisis, at Kinshasa’s request.
Diplomatic sources say the M23’s advance in the east of the vast central African nation could weaken Tshisekedi, who won a second term in December 2023.
Fears the violence could spark a wider conflict have galvanized regional bodies, mediators such as Angola and Kenya, as well as the United Nations, European Union and other countries in diplomatic efforts for a peaceful resolution.
But the DRC’s top diplomat accused the international community of being all talk and no action on the conflict.
“We see a lot of declarations but we don’t see actions,” Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner told journalists in Brussels.
Several neighboring countries have already said they are bolstering their defenses, wary of the crisis spilling over.
A UN expert report said last year that Rwanda had up to 4,000 troops in the DRC, seeking to profit from its vast mineral wealth, and that Kigali has “de facto” control over the M23.
The eastern DRC has deposits of coltan, a metallic ore that is vital in making phones and laptops, as well as gold and other minerals.
Rwanda has never explicitly admitted to military involvement in support of the M23 and alleges that the DRC supports and shelters the FDLR, an armed group created by ethnic Hutus who massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.