Congolese see hopes for peace fade as M23 and army fight on in eastern DRC

‘Peace prospects dire’: More tensions as M23 fights on in DRC despite deal Congolese hopes that conflict would end this year were dashed after M23 advanced on key city Uvira despite US and Qatari peace efforts. When Qatar helped secure a peace deal to end ongoing conflict between the M23 rebel group and Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) government last month, there was hope among many Congolese that a permanent ceasefire would soon emerge to end the fighting that has uprooted close to a million people in the country’s troubled east, and give war-racked communities some respite as the new year rolls in. Since late 2021, the group, which the United States and the United Nations say is backed by Rwanda, has clashed with the Congolese army in heavy offensives that have killed at least 7,000 people this year alone. Several regional attempts at resolution have failed. Still, when M23 representatives and Congolese government officials met for negotiations in Doha and proceeded to sign a peace deal in November , exhausted Congolese dared to hope. This deal, some reckoned, could be different. Recommended Stories list of 3 items list 1 of 3 ‘We don’t care about politics’: Violence-hit Uvira locals just want peace list 2 of 3 Could violence in the DRC become a regional conflict? list 3 of 3 M23 announces exit from key DRC town as US-brokered ceasefire stutters So when the rebels launched yet another offensive and temporarily seized the strategic city Uvira this month, hopes for lasting peace were painfully crushed, as some concluded that those at the helm of the talks were playing politics. “It’s clear that they don’t have any will to end this conflict,” Congolese lawyer and political analyst Hubert Masomera told Al Jazeera from the M23-held eastern city of Goma, blaming both sides. “Despite the number of deaths and the extent of the destruction, there is still procrastination over the implementation of the peace agreements and compliance with the ceasefire. People here feel abandoned to their sad fate.” Fears that the conflict will not only continue, but that it could soon take on a regional dimension, are deepening, too - a sensitive prospect in a DRC where two civil wars in the past were prompted by its neighbours. Uvira, the newly captured city the rebels then withdrew from as a “trust-building measure” following US pressure last week, is a major transport and economic hub in the huge South Kivu province. It’s strategically located on the border with Rwanda and is just 30 kilometres from the Burundian capital, Bujumbura. The city was the last eastern stronghold of the Congolese army and its allies - local “Wazalendo” militias and about 3,000 Burundian soldiers. Early this year, M23 also seized control of South Kivu’s capital city, Bukavu, as well as Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. Experts say M23’s advance on Uvira widens the group’s area of control significantly, puts it at the mouth of the mineral-rich Katanga region, and positions Rwandan proxies...

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