DR Congo
M23 Restricts Movement as Ebola Spreads Across Congo
The Rwanda-backed M23 rebel alliance has imposed new civilian movement restrictions in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as an Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo species of the virus spreads through a country divided between rival authorities. M23 said shared taxis between Goma and Kirumba will be suspended for one month starting Saturday, while pirogue travel will be halted on some Lake Edward routes, after two travelers from government-held Lubero tested positive in M23-controlled territory. The restrictions also show how M23 is using public-health administration to reinforce its role as a de facto governing authority. By running an Ebola response largely separate from Kinshasa, declaring its territory disease-free in June and now regulating movement from government-held areas, the rebels are exercising functions normally performed by the state. That parallel system adds another layer of fragmentation to an outbreak response already hampered by insecurity, displacement and difficulties tracing contacts across areas…
Congo Frees M23 Prisoners Then Ceasefire Cracks
The International Committee of the Red Cross facilitated the transfer of 15 detainees from Congolese government custody to the AFC/M23 rebel alliance on August 6–7, the first confirmed exchange under the Doha Mechanism signed in September 2025. The convoy left government-held Beni and crossed into Uganda before reaching Rutshuru Territory. This routing reflects how little direct road access remains between the two sides amid continued fighting in North Kivu. The swap was narrow. Africanews reported none of the 15 released were senior commanders or death-row inmates, and a wider exchange covering several hundred detainees has already missed one deadline this year. Qatar's Foreign Ministry welcomed the handover as a confidence-building measure, but the low-risk profile of those freed suggests that both sides are still withholding their more consequential cards. The goodwill was short-lived. Per the Critical Threats Project's Congo War Security Review, M23 expelled a Congolese government representative from the…
Drone War Grows in Eastern Congo
The group commissioned 9,318 of them as "commandos" graduating from its Tchanzu training camp on July 20 — its fifth such announcement since mid-2025. Critical Threats says it cannot confirm the figure.The conflict has also become one of Africa's most drone-heavy fronts. Congolese forces fly Chinese CH-4 and Turkish Bayraktar TB2 and Anka drones to cut M23's supply lines. A leaked Congolese army memo, reported by Africa Intelligence and cited by Critical Threats, estimated Rwandan-linked TB2 drones have carried out about five strikes a day in the Kivus since mid-June.More than 120 armed groups remain active in the region. Fighting has forced 4.3 million people from their homes since M23's 2024 return, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies — with the worst-hit areas overlapping the same mineral-rich territory the war is being fought over.The new recruitment and rising drone activity suggest neither side is preparing to stand down,…
UN Experts Demand End to M23’s Torture Campaign
UN human rights experts on July 21 called for an immediate end to what OHCHR described as a "reign of terror" carried out by the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group in areas of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo under its control, urging states and the United Nations to help revive the ceasefire between Kinshasa and M23 signed in December 2025, a process distinct from the earlier state-to-state accord Rwanda and DRC signed in Washington in June 2025.The experts, who include the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and members of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, said rapes, gang rapes, violent assaults, and killings of civilians have become a routine feature of M23's conduct in the territory it controls, distinct from the estimated 90,000 conflict-related sexual violence cases recorded across all armed actors nationwide in 2025, according to the UN Secretary-General.M23 has built a system of arbitrary arrest, sexual torture, forced…
UN Experts Say Congo Peace Deal Is Being Violated as M23 Holds Ground in the East
A UN Group of Experts report says all sides in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s war are violating the Washington…
Congo Files ICJ Case Against Rwanda Over a War Rwanda Says It Is Not Fighting
June 29, 2026. The Democratic Republic of Congo (#DRC) filed a case against #Rwanda at the International Court of Justice…
