M23 announces exit from DRC’s Uvira as US-brokered ceasefire stutters
Al Jazeera
Rwanda-backed rebels say they will withdraw from eastern town they seized last week after request by US mediators.
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.
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, “as per United States mediation request”.
Reporting from Uvira, Al Jazeera’s Alain Uaykani said “nothing had changed” as of Tuesday morning, with M23 fighters still spotted in the town.
He noted the coalition had warned that the Congolese army and its allies had “exploited similar withdrawals to retake territory and target civilians perceived as sympathetic to the rebels”.
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’s capital, Doha.
Renewed border clashes between Cambodia and Thailand entered a second week.
Multiple people have been reported injured in a shooting near the Ivy League campus in Providence, Rhode Island.
The gunman involved has been killed, with no information on motives as of yet.
Al Jazeera gains exclusive access to Uvira where fighting has killed hundreds.
Witnesses at the hospital and the UN say the attack killed medics, patients and may ‘amount to a war crime’.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Defence said Thai F-16 fighter jets continued to bomb targets inside country.
Incident in November latest reported instance of Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive maritime tactics.
Neither side has independently confirmed agreement, which comes amid five-day flare-up of cross-border fighting.
As M23 rebels capture strategic city Uvira despite Trump peace deal, displaced families recount chaos and death.
Report finds paramilitary group responsible for vast majority of attacks as conflict devastates civilian population.
Cambodia rejects claims of preparing to launch Chinese-made missiles and using foreign fighters in border clashes.
Ukraine leader says US wants zone as buffer between armies, underlining that referendum needed for any land schemes.
Venezuela’s allies have gained new prominence amid US pressure campaign and military build-up.