Clashes in Congo threaten peace deal

Members of the M23 Movement, which has been waging an armed campaign against the Congolese government, pressed forward with their advance on the city of Uvira, according to Al Jazeera plus agencies on December 23rd.

Al Jazeera has stated that the recent developments have marked yet another blow to a peace deal, inked by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the M23 group in November, following negotiations held in Doha.

M23 forces had initially relaunched an offensive on Uvira earlier this month and seized part of the city. At the time Uvira was defended by a combined force of Congolese troops, allied militias, and around 3,000 Burundian troops deployed as part of ongoing peacekeeping operations in the region.

M23 forces initially withdrew as part of of what was described as a US-backed “trust-building measure” but soon restarted their advance on the city. Experts have warned that Uvira’s capture would place the M23 within the vicinity of the state of Katanga, home to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mineral wealth. The recent activity also places M23 forces closer to the border of neighbouring Burundi with wider regional destabilisation becoming a very real threat.

Uvira remains a key transport and economic centre in the war-torn Kivu region, with trade links to both Burundi and Rwanda. On the ground, Uvira’s capture appears to form part of a concerted effort to enforce control over both North and South Kivu.

Rwanda, which has been widely condemned for arming, financing and intervening on behalf of the M23, is suspected of seeking to use the campaign to overstretch its own control over the DRC. President Paul Kagame has repeatedly denied that Rwanda has been behind the M23’s actions, and has justified its military presence in Kivu by accusing the Congolese government of supporting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). Rwanda has been fighting the FDLR for many years, and still considers the group a threat to its stability. The Congolese government has countered this by asserting that the FDLR no longer poses a direct threat.

Al Jazeera plus agencies, Maghrebi.org