The Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group and government forces have exchanged responsibility for restarting fighting.
Published December 5, 2025
A day after U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda to Washington and signed a peace deal aimed at ending decades of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, fighting has flared up again between the M23 rebel group and government forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The warring sides blamed each other for Friday’s resumption of fighting, with the M23 group saying in a statement that 23 people had been killed and several others wounded in shelling by Democratic Republic of Congo forces.
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M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said in a post on X that the Congolese army and allies had launched “attacks on populated areas in North and South Kivu using fighter jets, drones and heavy artillery.”
He claimed that two bombs fired from Burundi hit near the town of Kamanyora on Thursday night, killing four people and seriously injuring two others.
The Rwandan-backed group seized control of the eastern DRC’s two largest cities, Goma and Bukavu, earlier this year and is not bound by a US peace deal.
A senior M23 official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, told Reuters that rebel forces had retaken the town of Ruberica and shot down a Congolese military drone.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s military confirmed to Reuters that clashes were occurring along the Caziba-Katogota-Rulambo axis in South Kivu province.
“There is a population shift in Lubungi because of the Rwandan Defense Force’s shelling. They are bombing blindly,” he said.
Rwandan military and government spokespeople could not be reached for comment.
The new fighting came a day after Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Shisekedi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame reaffirmed their commitment to a U.S.-brokered deal reached in June to stabilize the vast country and pave the way for further mining investment by the West.
“We are trying to resolve wars that have been going on for decades,” said the Trump administration, which has honed its credentials as a peace negotiator and intervened in a series of conflicts around the world to advance U.S. business interests.
Analysts say U.S. diplomacy has paused the escalation in fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, but has failed to resolve core issues and that neither the Democratic Republic of Congo nor Rwanda have fulfilled commitments made in the June deal.
Fanuel Sindayheba, a local government official in Rwanda’s western Rusizi district, told reporters Friday’s clashes also caused a mass displacement of residents, with more than 700 Congolese people, mostly women and children, crossing into neighboring Rwanda.
He said refugees were being temporarily hosted at a transit center in the area and provided with basic items such as food and bedding.
Footage shared on social media showed a line of displaced people moving towards Rwanda through the Bugarama-Kamanyora border crossing between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, some carrying belongings and livestock.
More than 123,600 people were displaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo between July and October due to armed attacks, clashes, land disputes and natural disasters, according to the latest data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
