Overview
- M23 fighters moved into Uvira and its suburbs, with the group claiming control of the city as residents and security sources reported government units withdrawing.
- Roughly 30,000 people crossed into Burundi within a week, according to the UN and Burundian authorities, as panic and shelling were reported around Uvira.
- Several hundred Congolese and Burundian soldiers fled across the border after Congolese army positions collapsed, with reports of bombing and street-to-street pressure from the north.
- The push came days after Presidents Paul Kagame and Félix Tshisekedi signed a US-mediated paper in Washington, as the US, Germany and the International Contact Group urged an immediate halt and called for a Rwandan withdrawal.
- Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of backing M23, Kigali denies direct involvement, and Burundi’s deployment in eastern DRC underscores the city’s strategic value on Lake Tanganyika and the risk of wider regional escalation.