M23 rebels, supported by Rwanda according to several United Nations reports, entered the town of Uvira on Wednesday 10 December 2025, marking a major advance in an increasingly intense conflict in eastern DRC.

The authorities point to the presence of Rwandan special forces and foreign mercenaries operating in flagrant violation of the ceasefire and international agreements in force.

In a special broadcast of “Congolais Telema” on national television RTNC, the Minister of Communication and government spokesperson, Patrick Muyaya, gave an update on the security situation in the east of the country a few hours after the capture of the town of Uvira. “Death machines, kamikaze drones, have been used several times on civilian targets, causing at least a hundred deaths, serious injuries and at least 200,000 displaced persons,” he said.

After fleeing Bukavu in the face of the AFC/M23 advance, the provincial authorities of South Kivu were once again forced to abandon Uvira on Tuesday. They retreated to the town of Baraka in Fizi territory, nearly 30km west of Uvira.

“Faced with thousands of deaths and mass displacement, concern is no longer enough. Concrete measures are needed,” said Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Located on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, Uvira is not a city like any other: it is home to the provincial government appointed by Kinshasa since the fall of Bukavu last February and serves as a strategic base for loyalist forces. Its capture now opens a corridor for the rebels that could take them even further into South Kivu and beyond.

Local sources report that M23 fighters, engaged in a “sweeping” operation in the heart of the city of Uvira, are shooting several young civilians at point-blank range. According to these testimonies, the victims are being executed on the mere suspicion of belonging to the Wazalendo militias that were helping the FARDC.

Written by Akilimali Chomachoma