Rebels agree to a ceasefire with African coalition troops departing from
eastern Congo
[March 29, 2025]
By JUSTIN KABUMBA
GOMA, Congo (AP) — The M23 rebels in control of key areas of eastern
Congo agreed Friday to a ceasefire with African coalition peacekeepers
who have announced their withdrawal even as the conflict between the
insurgents and Congo 's government continues.
The rebels and troops from the South African Development Community, or
SADC, said in a joint news release that they would work together to
rebuild the airport in the eastern hub of Goma, which was damaged when
rebels took over, so that the SADC troops could depart the country in an
orderly way.
The force of several thousand peacekeeping troops from South Africa,
Malawi and Tanzania had been sent to eastern Congo by the SADC in 2023
to help the Congolese government pacify a mineral-rich region plagued by
various insurgencies.
The troops failed to stop the lightning assaults starting in January by
the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels that have claimed several key cities and
that left several peacekeepers dead, eroding support for the mission in
the donor countries. The SADC leadership announced their withdrawal
earlier this month.
The rebels and SADC troops gave no timetable for the withdrawal under
their accord.
The SADC troops "will be leaving via Goma airport, but it has to be
repaired before they can leave,” M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka said in
an interview with The Associated Press.
Kanyuka called it a “historic day," and said that the agreement with the
SADC mission reflected an awareness that the conflict must be resolved
politically not through fighting.
“We thank SADC today for understanding that there is no military
solution to this conflict. They came today, and we talked about
dialogue,” Kanyuka said, adding that their withdrawal was “one of the
prerequisites” for dialogue.
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Former members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of
Congo (FARDC) and police officers who allegedly surrendered to M23
rebels arrive in Goma, Congo, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses
Sawasawa, file)
Kanyuka accused Congolese troops of violating ongoing ceasefire
negotiations and said that M23 had requested that the SADC “talk to
Kinshasa to get them to stop and adhere to this ceasefire, which we
have respected until now.”
.The SADC mission was part of a myriad of forces operating in the
mineral-rich region plagued by decades of armed violence. They
include Congolese government soldiers, foreign mercenaries, a United
Nations peacekeeping force and more than 100 groups that are
fighting for power, land and valuable mineral resources. Others try
to defend their communities. Some armed groups have been accused of
mass killings targeting ethnic groups
The M23 rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring
Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, and at times have vowed to march
as far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, over 1,000 miles away.
Rwanda has rejected charges, including by the Congolese government
and U.N experts, that it backs M23 in eastern Congo, a region that
is now one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises with more than
7 million people displaced.
The withdrawal of SADC troops comes after the M23 took control of
eastern Congo’s main city of Goma and seized the second largest
city, Bukavu, in offensives over the past two months.
Fourteen South African soldiers, and at least three from Malawi were
killed in January in the fighting. The United Nations later
evacuated a group of critically injured South African
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