Local sources have informed the press that the withdrawal of the M23 “March 23 Movement” rebels in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is still not effective.
The announcement of the disengagement of this rebel group from Kibumba was made on 23 December last year, when they met with the commanders of the regional force of the East African Community (EAC). However, this was not done according to the Congolese army, which announced that the M23 are still there.
Some Kibumba inhabitants confirmed the same to the media, adding that the M23 have abandoned their “positions of Kamahoro and Trois antennes”, about 3 km from Kibumba-centre, where the majority of the population has fled. Thus, one of the inhabitants added that the commanders of the EAC regional force had asked them not to flee as the M23 was going to withdraw, especially as several inhabitants had been displaced to a camp near Goma.
It should be recalled that the DRC accuses Rwanda of actively supporting the M23 and fighting alongside it, which has caused relations between the two countries to be very tense.