Sawt Falasteen - M23's advance in DR Congo prompts uncertainty, border closure

The M23's assault comes less than a year after the anti-government armed group seized control of Goma and Bukavu, two key provincial capitals in the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been plagued by conflict for three decades.

Its latest rapid advance -- launched on December 1 in South Kivu province against a Congolese army backed by Burundian forces -- also comes just days after the signing of an agreement aimed at ending the conflict brokered by US President Donald Trump.

Burundi, which neighbours both the DRC and Rwanda, views the prospect of Uvira falling to Rwanda-backed forces as an existential threat.

Uvira sits across Lake Tanganyika from the Burundian economic capital Bujumbura, with only around 20 kilometres (12 miles) between the two cities.

The main border posts with the DRC were closed on Tuesday afternoon and are now considered "military zones", military and police sources told AFP.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame inked the peace deal in Washington last Thursday.

The agreement -- which Trump called a "miracle" deal -- includes an economic component intended to secure US supplies of critical minerals present in the region, as the United States seeks to challenge China's dominance in the sector.

However, M23 fighters entered Uvira, a city of several hundred thousand residents, from the north late on Tuesday, security and military sources said, plunging the city into uncertainty over who was in charge.

Several Congolese army soldiers and members of pro-Kinshasa militia were still seen in the area, military sources and witnesses said.

A few stray shots were reported.

The city nestled between mountains and Lake Tanganyika had already largely emptied on Tuesday as soldiers, police and administrative personnel fled the M23's advance.

Residents speaking to AFP by telephone had spoken of a "every man for himself" mentality and growing panic.

Congolese soldiers, some of whom had abandoned their weapons and uniforms, fled, looting shops and a pharmacy as they went, according to witnesses and military sources.

- 'New authorities' -

A few worried-looking residents attempted to take a look around on Wednesday to assess the situation.

Some of them told AFP by telephone in the early afternoon that they had seen M23 fighters in northern districts of Uvira.

"We don't understand anything, we can only wait for new authorities to take over. We can't remain without an army or police," one resident said speaking by telephone.

"Activities are at a standstill. I'm at the border and I'm seeing people cross into Burundi," another resident said before the announced border closure.

More than 30,000 Congolese have fled the fighting and arrived in Burundi in the space of a week, a Burundian local administrative official and a UN source said Tuesday.

According to an initial estimate by the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA, more than 200,000 people have been displaced within South Kivu province since December 2, while thousands of others have crossed the border into neighbouring countries especially Burundi but also Rwanda.

The latest advance on Uvira marks a new blow for the DRC government.

According to several European diplomatic sources, Kinshasa fears the M23 pushing on towards mineral-rich Katanga province in southeastern DRC, the vast country's mining hub which the state relies on to fill its coffers thanks to taxes imposed on mining companies.

Rwanda accused the DRC and Burundi of deliberately violating the peace agreement, in a statement Wednesday. A day earlier, the United States and European powers urged the M23 to "immediately halt" its offensive and for Rwanda to pull its troops out of the eastern DRC.

The M23 is supported by up to 7,000 Rwandan troops in eastern DRC, according to UN experts.

Burundi, which has thorny relations with Rwanda, deployed about 10,000 soldiers to the eastern DRC in October 2023 as part of a military cooperation agreement, and security sources say reinforcements have since taken that presence to around 18,000 men.

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B.Mahmoud--SF-PST