The Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group has captured another major Congolese city – this time, without a fight (almost). They entered Bukavu – the capital of South Kivu province – on 16 February and met little resistance. The region’s governor says Congolese government troops withdrew from the city of 1.3 million to avoid urban fighting.
Bukavu is eastern DRC’s second-largest city after North Kivu’s Goma, which fell to the rebels on 27 January after a lightning advance that began in late December, following the collapse of planned peace talks between DRC’s president Félix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame.
M23’s capture of Bukavu coincided with the 38th African Union summit at its Addis Ababa headquarters, where the body’s Peace and Security Council focused on the ongoing crisis in eastern DRC. Notably, Tshisekedi was away in Germany at the Munich Security Conference at the time Bukavu fell.
M23 has now achieved its largest territorial expansion since its insurgency began more than a decade ago. With both of Kivu’s provincial capitals under its control, the group now effectively controls eastern DRC’s transit hubs, which lie on the border with Rwanda.
Congo’s 30-year resource war had k*lled around 6-million people by 2010, with many more casualties since then. The UN says over 700,000 have been displaced since January 2025 alone, adding to the 7-million displaced in previous conflicts and more recent fighting in the mineral-rich country.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0rqr8q5v52o
https://www.citizen.digital/news/m23-seize-key-city-amid-mounting-fears-of-dr-congo-breakup-n357726
https://www.theafricareport.com/376993/au-summit-kagames-anger-congolese-delegation-blocked/