Rwanda-backed rebels control key city, Congo's government says

Michael J. Kavanagh, Bloomberg News on Feb 16, 2025

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Rwanda-backed rebels have taken Democratic Republic of Congo’s strategic city of Bukavu in the country’s mineral-rich east, pushing the region closer to a multination war, Congo’s government said Sunday.

A rebel spokesman, Willy Ngoma, posted videos of M23 troops in the city center on Sunday, hours after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said the army was in control. The rebels now occupy the city, Ngoma said in a text message on Sunday.

“The government is doing everything possible to restore order, security and territorial integrity,” Congo’s media ministry said in a statement on X.

The fall of Bukavu means M23 controls all of eastern Congo’s border with Rwanda along Lake Kivu. The government says Rwanda and the rebels plan to occupy the region, raising concerns of a regional war similar to the one that embroiled most of central Africa a quarter of a century ago.

Last month, the M23 seized the strategic city of Goma and its airport on the northern tip of the lake, after overpowering Congo’s army, its allied militias and peacekeepers from South Africa, Tanzania, Malawi and the United Nations, leaving more than 3,000 people dead and a similar number wounded.

Troops from neighboring Burundi fought alongside Congo’s army against the M23 as they moved toward Bukavu. M23 has demanded the Burundians leave.

Leaders around the world condemned the invasion of Goma and have called for peace talks and a ceasefire, and for Rwandan soldiers to withdraw from Congo.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has denied giving military support to M23.

“The entrance of M23 and the Rwandan Defence Force into Bukavu is a violation of DRC’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a breach of the U.N. Charter,” the UK’s foreign office said in a statement Sunday, demanding an end to the fighting and the withdrawal of Rwandan troops. “This is a serious escalation that heightens the risk of a wider regional conflict – the human cost of which would be devastating.”

French President Emmanuel Macron called for an immediate withdrawal of the M23 from Bukavu and its airport to allow humanitarian and civilian planes to land after speaking with Tshisekedi Saturday, he said in a post on X.

Bukavu was last invaded in 2004, when a break-away group of soldiers with links to Rwanda took the city, leading to massive casualties and sexual violence.

The city of about a million people is an important transit point for South Kivu province’s gold, much of which is smuggled to neighboring countries, according to U.N. experts. The region is also rich in tin ore, tungsten and tantalum, which are used in most portable electronics.

M23 say they’re protecting the rights of Tutsis and other speakers of the Rwandan language in Congo. Congo’s government says the rebels and Rwanda are mainly interested in minerals.

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