The rebel group M23 promises to withdraw from the eastern Congolese city of Uvira. Rebel leader Corneille Nangaa announced this on Tuesday on X. The city was captured last week, the Rwanda-backed group claimed. Uvira was the last city that the government army held in eastern Congo. The attack caused thousands of civilians to flee to neighboring Burundi.
The United States was not pleased with the capture. At the beginning of this month, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan colleague Paul Kagame signed a ‘peace deal’ in Washington DC. The US acted as a mediator and was supported by Qatar. When the agreement was presented, American President Donald Trump, who has been angling for the Nobel Peace Prize for years, took center stage.
“Rwanda’s actions in eastern Congo are a clear violation of the Washington Agreement signed by President Trump,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote last Saturday on X. The United States will “take action to ensure that the promises made to the President are fulfilled,” Rubio threatened. M23’s announcement seems to show that Rwandan colleague Paul Kagame is susceptible to diplomatic pressure from the US.
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The deal, orchestrated by Washington, avoids the core of the conflict in eastern Congo
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