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KINSHASA – The army on Thursday accused the M23 armed group of reneging on its commitment to withdraw from the area around the eastern DR Congo town of Walikale, reinforcing its positions and resuming attacks.
The Congolese armed forces (FARDC) said in a statement that they were continuing to refrain from carrying out “offensive actions” against Rwanda-backed M23 fighters in the area.
A senior M23 member, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the army had struck the group’s positions in Walikale on Thursday.
Neither sides’ statements could be immediately verified.
On Saturday, the M23, an anti-government group which resurfaced in 2021, said that it was “repositioning its forces” outside the outskirts of Walikale to help create the right conditions for “peace and political dialogue”.
It took control of the mining hub of Walikale last Wednesday, marking the furthest west the group has advanced into the interior of the Democratic Republic of Congo since it emerged in 2012.
Its fighters were still on the ground, residents have told AFP in recent days, saying the situation was again calm.
The army said in its statement that the M23 fighters were continuing “to reinforce their positions with men and equipment” contrary to the group’s declaration that it would redeploy outside of Walikale.
The M23 has assaulted military positions close to the town as well as within the neighboring South Kivu province, according to the army statements.
The Congolese government has charged Rwanda with supporting the M23 rebels as a means to control significant mineral deposits and fertile agricultural land.
Rwanda refutes accusations of supplying military aid to the M23, yet a UN experts’ report claims that the country sustains approximately 4,000 soldiers in eastern DRC to back the rebel faction.
The M23 has taken control of large swathes of North and South Kivu provinces since 2021 and launched a lightning push earlier this year, capturing the cities of Goma and Bukavu, the provincial capitals.
Six ceasefire agreements and truces have been made, only to be violated subsequently.
A meeting between the Congolese government and the M23 in the Angolan capital Luanda last week was cancelled at the last minute.
On the same day, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame “reaffirmed their commitment to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire” after a surprise meeting in Doha organised by Qatar.
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