\n<\/p>\n
Rwanda-backed rebels say they will withdraw from eastern town they seized last week after request by US mediators.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\nPublished On 16 Dec 2025<\/span>16 Dec 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/p>\nClick here to share on social media<\/p>\nshare2<\/title><path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.688 9.048c-.659 0-1.252.282-1.673.733l-4.92-2.45c.016-.115.028-.232.028-.352 0-.117-.011-.23-.027-.343l4.913-2.423a2.285 2.285 0 0 0 1.68.739C12.964 4.952 14 3.899 14 2.6 14 1.302 12.965.25 11.688.25S9.377 1.302 9.377 2.601c0 .117.01.23.027.343L4.49 5.367a2.285 2.285 0 0 0-1.68-.739C1.536 4.628.5 5.681.5 6.979c0 1.299 1.035 2.35 2.312 2.35.659 0 1.252-.281 1.673-.731l4.92 2.45a2.357 2.357 0 0 0-.029.351c0 1.299 1.035 2.351 2.312 2.351S14 12.698 14 11.399s-1.035-2.35-2.312-2.35Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>The M23 armed group says it has agreed to a request from the United States to withdraw from the key town of Uvira in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after seizing it last week.<\/p>\n<p>Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) rebel coalition, which includes the M23 group, posted a signed statement on X on Tuesday that confirmed fighters would withdraw from the town located in South Kivu province, near the border with Burundi, \u201cas per United States mediation request\u201d.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Reporting from Uvira, Al Jazeera\u2019s Alain Uaykani said \u201cnothing had changed\u201d as of Tuesday morning, with M23 fighters still spotted in the town.<\/p>\n<p>He noted the coalition had warned that the Congolese army and its allies had \u201cexploited similar withdrawals to retake territory and target civilians perceived as sympathetic to the rebels\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The Rwanda-backed militia seized the strategic town last week, imperilling a US-brokered peace agreement between Kinshasa and Kigali signed just days before, and a framework agreement for a peace deal signed by the group and the Congolese government in Qatar\u2019s capital, Doha.<\/p>\n<p>The coalition called the move a \u201cunilateral trust-building measure\u201d aimed at giving the \u201cDoha peace process the maximum chance to succeed\u201d, calling on \u201cguarantors of the peace process\u201d to oversee demilitarisation and protection of the town\u2019s population and infrastructure, and to monitor the ceasefire with \u201cthe deployment of a neutral force\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"us-ready-to-take-action\">US ready to \u2018take action\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The Doha framework deal was agreed in November, establishing a roadmap to stop the deadly fighting and improve the humanitarian situation in the DRC. It was built on a declaration of principles signed in July\u00a0on the monitoring of an eventual ceasefire that did not tackle questions over the M23\u2019s withdrawal from the country.<\/p>\n<p>The group\u2019s capture of Uvira last week came after Congolese and Rwandan leaders signed a peace agreement in Washington, DC, amid much fanfare, leading US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to accuse Rwanda, which denies backing M23 rebels, of a \u201cclear violation of the Washington Accords\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The US would \u201ctake action to ensure promises made to the president are kept\u201d, he said in a post on X.<\/p>\n<p>Paul-Simon Handy, the East Africa regional director at the Institute for Security Studies, said M23\u2019s actions in Uvira were \u201ca negotiating tactic\u201d by the group to create facts on the ground and push the DRC\u2019s government \u201cto make more territorial and economic concessions\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He noted the withdrawal announcement was likely \u201ca direct consequence of the very strong\u201d reaction by the US. \u201cI struggle to see the strategic objective they are trying to gain by aggrieving the main backer of the peace agreement,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWanting to give peace a chance would have meant not taking over Uvira after the signing of the Washington and the Doha agreements,\u201d Handy said. \u201cTaking over and now saying we are withdrawing is a tactic we\u2019ve seen \u2026 else[where] by the M23 \u2013 taking over territories, appearing to withdraw, to take them again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The rebels\u2019 gains in Uvira, located on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, also brought conflict to the doorstep of Burundi, which has had troops in the eastern DRC for years, aggravating fears of further regional spillover of fighting that has already killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands more since January.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rwanda-backed rebels say they will withdraw from eastern town they seized last week after request by US mediators. Published On 16 Dec 202516 Dec 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share The M23 armed group says it has agreed to a request from the United States to withdraw from the key town […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Published On 16 Dec 2025<\/span>16 Dec 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/p>\nClick here to share on social media<\/p>\nshare2<\/title><path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.688 9.048c-.659 0-1.252.282-1.673.733l-4.92-2.45c.016-.115.028-.232.028-.352 0-.117-.011-.23-.027-.343l4.913-2.423a2.285 2.285 0 0 0 1.68.739C12.964 4.952 14 3.899 14 2.6 14 1.302 12.965.25 11.688.25S9.377 1.302 9.377 2.601c0 .117.01.23.027.343L4.49 5.367a2.285 2.285 0 0 0-1.68-.739C1.536 4.628.5 5.681.5 6.979c0 1.299 1.035 2.35 2.312 2.35.659 0 1.252-.281 1.673-.731l4.92 2.45a2.357 2.357 0 0 0-.029.351c0 1.299 1.035 2.351 2.312 2.351S14 12.698 14 11.399s-1.035-2.35-2.312-2.35Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>The M23 armed group says it has agreed to a request from the United States to withdraw from the key town of Uvira in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after seizing it last week.<\/p>\n<p>Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) rebel coalition, which includes the M23 group, posted a signed statement on X on Tuesday that confirmed fighters would withdraw from the town located in South Kivu province, near the border with Burundi, \u201cas per United States mediation request\u201d.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Reporting from Uvira, Al Jazeera\u2019s Alain Uaykani said \u201cnothing had changed\u201d as of Tuesday morning, with M23 fighters still spotted in the town.<\/p>\n<p>He noted the coalition had warned that the Congolese army and its allies had \u201cexploited similar withdrawals to retake territory and target civilians perceived as sympathetic to the rebels\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The Rwanda-backed militia seized the strategic town last week, imperilling a US-brokered peace agreement between Kinshasa and Kigali signed just days before, and a framework agreement for a peace deal signed by the group and the Congolese government in Qatar\u2019s capital, Doha.<\/p>\n<p>The coalition called the move a \u201cunilateral trust-building measure\u201d aimed at giving the \u201cDoha peace process the maximum chance to succeed\u201d, calling on \u201cguarantors of the peace process\u201d to oversee demilitarisation and protection of the town\u2019s population and infrastructure, and to monitor the ceasefire with \u201cthe deployment of a neutral force\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"us-ready-to-take-action\">US ready to \u2018take action\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The Doha framework deal was agreed in November, establishing a roadmap to stop the deadly fighting and improve the humanitarian situation in the DRC. It was built on a declaration of principles signed in July\u00a0on the monitoring of an eventual ceasefire that did not tackle questions over the M23\u2019s withdrawal from the country.<\/p>\n<p>The group\u2019s capture of Uvira last week came after Congolese and Rwandan leaders signed a peace agreement in Washington, DC, amid much fanfare, leading US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to accuse Rwanda, which denies backing M23 rebels, of a \u201cclear violation of the Washington Accords\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The US would \u201ctake action to ensure promises made to the president are kept\u201d, he said in a post on X.<\/p>\n<p>Paul-Simon Handy, the East Africa regional director at the Institute for Security Studies, said M23\u2019s actions in Uvira were \u201ca negotiating tactic\u201d by the group to create facts on the ground and push the DRC\u2019s government \u201cto make more territorial and economic concessions\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He noted the withdrawal announcement was likely \u201ca direct consequence of the very strong\u201d reaction by the US. \u201cI struggle to see the strategic objective they are trying to gain by aggrieving the main backer of the peace agreement,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWanting to give peace a chance would have meant not taking over Uvira after the signing of the Washington and the Doha agreements,\u201d Handy said. \u201cTaking over and now saying we are withdrawing is a tactic we\u2019ve seen \u2026 else[where] by the M23 \u2013 taking over territories, appearing to withdraw, to take them again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The rebels\u2019 gains in Uvira, located on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, also brought conflict to the doorstep of Burundi, which has had troops in the eastern DRC for years, aggravating fears of further regional spillover of fighting that has already killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands more since January.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rwanda-backed rebels say they will withdraw from eastern town they seized last week after request by US mediators. Published On 16 Dec 202516 Dec 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share The M23 armed group says it has agreed to a request from the United States to withdraw from the key town […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n
share2<\/title><path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.688 9.048c-.659 0-1.252.282-1.673.733l-4.92-2.45c.016-.115.028-.232.028-.352 0-.117-.011-.23-.027-.343l4.913-2.423a2.285 2.285 0 0 0 1.68.739C12.964 4.952 14 3.899 14 2.6 14 1.302 12.965.25 11.688.25S9.377 1.302 9.377 2.601c0 .117.01.23.027.343L4.49 5.367a2.285 2.285 0 0 0-1.68-.739C1.536 4.628.5 5.681.5 6.979c0 1.299 1.035 2.35 2.312 2.35.659 0 1.252-.281 1.673-.731l4.92 2.45a2.357 2.357 0 0 0-.029.351c0 1.299 1.035 2.351 2.312 2.351S14 12.698 14 11.399s-1.035-2.35-2.312-2.35Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>The M23 armed group says it has agreed to a request from the United States to withdraw from the key town of Uvira in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after seizing it last week.<\/p>\n<p>Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) rebel coalition, which includes the M23 group, posted a signed statement on X on Tuesday that confirmed fighters would withdraw from the town located in South Kivu province, near the border with Burundi, \u201cas per United States mediation request\u201d.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Reporting from Uvira, Al Jazeera\u2019s Alain Uaykani said \u201cnothing had changed\u201d as of Tuesday morning, with M23 fighters still spotted in the town.<\/p>\n<p>He noted the coalition had warned that the Congolese army and its allies had \u201cexploited similar withdrawals to retake territory and target civilians perceived as sympathetic to the rebels\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The Rwanda-backed militia seized the strategic town last week, imperilling a US-brokered peace agreement between Kinshasa and Kigali signed just days before, and a framework agreement for a peace deal signed by the group and the Congolese government in Qatar\u2019s capital, Doha.<\/p>\n<p>The coalition called the move a \u201cunilateral trust-building measure\u201d aimed at giving the \u201cDoha peace process the maximum chance to succeed\u201d, calling on \u201cguarantors of the peace process\u201d to oversee demilitarisation and protection of the town\u2019s population and infrastructure, and to monitor the ceasefire with \u201cthe deployment of a neutral force\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"us-ready-to-take-action\">US ready to \u2018take action\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The Doha framework deal was agreed in November, establishing a roadmap to stop the deadly fighting and improve the humanitarian situation in the DRC. It was built on a declaration of principles signed in July\u00a0on the monitoring of an eventual ceasefire that did not tackle questions over the M23\u2019s withdrawal from the country.<\/p>\n<p>The group\u2019s capture of Uvira last week came after Congolese and Rwandan leaders signed a peace agreement in Washington, DC, amid much fanfare, leading US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to accuse Rwanda, which denies backing M23 rebels, of a \u201cclear violation of the Washington Accords\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The US would \u201ctake action to ensure promises made to the president are kept\u201d, he said in a post on X.<\/p>\n<p>Paul-Simon Handy, the East Africa regional director at the Institute for Security Studies, said M23\u2019s actions in Uvira were \u201ca negotiating tactic\u201d by the group to create facts on the ground and push the DRC\u2019s government \u201cto make more territorial and economic concessions\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He noted the withdrawal announcement was likely \u201ca direct consequence of the very strong\u201d reaction by the US. \u201cI struggle to see the strategic objective they are trying to gain by aggrieving the main backer of the peace agreement,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWanting to give peace a chance would have meant not taking over Uvira after the signing of the Washington and the Doha agreements,\u201d Handy said. \u201cTaking over and now saying we are withdrawing is a tactic we\u2019ve seen \u2026 else[where] by the M23 \u2013 taking over territories, appearing to withdraw, to take them again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The rebels\u2019 gains in Uvira, located on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, also brought conflict to the doorstep of Burundi, which has had troops in the eastern DRC for years, aggravating fears of further regional spillover of fighting that has already killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands more since January.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rwanda-backed rebels say they will withdraw from eastern town they seized last week after request by US mediators. Published On 16 Dec 202516 Dec 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share The M23 armed group says it has agreed to a request from the United States to withdraw from the key town […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}