The M23 group announced its decision to withdraw from the Kibumba area it had occupied and hand it over to the East African Community, as agreed with in recent talks in Luanda.DRC:The M23 will withdraw from the Kibumba area.
M23 declared this on Thursday, stating that these activities will take place today, December 23, 2022, as one of their ongoing goals to be the first step in restoring peace in the DRC.
It is a decision made by this committee following negotiations with representatives of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), the East African Regional Army, and the Armed Forces of the Community on December 12, 2022. MONUSCO, the United Nations, is on a mission to restore peace in that country.
It was a discussion that demanded that this group leave the area, something that M23 said it agreed with but said that it needs a discussion that clearly shows where They will go, what they will do there and who will protect the freed people.
Kibumba is one of the areas under the control of M23, and in the past few days it has shown eight FARDC soldiers and one police officer arrested including Lt Col Assani Kimonkola Adrien, who was the deputy commander of the military and intelligence operations battalion who was arrested in fighting in Kibumba on November 20, 2022.
A statement signed by M23’s Political Spokesperson, Lawrence Kanyuka said this was done while M23’s bases continue to be attacked by the FARDC army in collaboration with the FDLR, Mai Mai Nyatura and other rebellion groups and the military. The RDC continues to kill civilians.
It says, “This is done in the name of restoring peace and is in line with the resolutions of the meeting held on November 23, 2022, which brought together the leaders of East African countries to study the problems of insecurity in the East of the DRC in Luanda. We hope that the State of Congo takes this opportunity as one of the ways to restore peace in the country.”
Talks aimed at de-escalating the tension between the DRC and Rwanda recently took place in Luanda, which resulted in the M23 group ceasing hostilities but remaining on the territory of this country.
M23 was allowed to stay in the RDC in the suburbs of Sabyinyo, in areas known as Bigega, Bugusa, Nyabikona, Mbuzi, Rutsiro and Nkokwe. The leaders of the countries agreed that where the M23 comes from, the East African Community Forces should immediately begin to control it.
It is an unusual step that was taken for the first time because otherwise the RDC made it clear that this group is Rwandans, so they should return to Rwanda, ignoring the fact that they are Congolese.
