Congo War Security Review

Data Cutoff: August 13, 2025, at 1 P.M. EST

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Read CTP’s forecast of DRC-M23 peace talks and the trajectory of the conflict in the eastern DRC in Challenges to Sustainable DRC-M23 Peace: Africa File Special Edition.

Read CTP’s latest analysis on the war in the eastern DRC in the weekly Africa File here.

Key Takeaway: M23 clashed with the Congolese army (FARDC) and allied pro-Congolese government Wazalendo fighters on the front lines in Walungu district in South Kivu. M23 has reinforced its positions in several areas in South Kivu in recent days. M23 and the FARDC traded accusations that each has violated the Qatari-brokered ceasefire from July and provoked military confrontation. The East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) held a joint virtual summit to discuss the security crisis in the eastern DRC.

Kinetic Activity in Rutshuru & Eastern Masisi Districts

Nothing significant to report.

Southern Axis: Bukavu-Uvira-Baraka-Kalemie

Nothing significant to report.

Northwest Axis: Masisi-Walikale-Lubutu-Kisangani

Nothing significant to report.

Southwest Axis: Bukavu-Kamituga-Shabunda-Kindu

M23 clashed with the Congolese army (FARDC) and allied pro-Congolese government Wazalendo fighters on the front lines in Walungu district in South Kivu. The Congolese media outlet Tazama RDC reported that M23 attacked FARDC and Wazalendo elements in the Mulamba group and pushed FARDC-Wazalendo fighters back roughly one mile toward Nzibira on the RP503 on August 11.[i] CTP reported previously that M23 may aim to capture Nzibira locality—a Congolese army logistics hub and gateway town to the adjacent Shabunda district in South Kivu.[ii] The Mulamba group is about 15 miles south of the Walungu district capital. Congolese media sources reported that M23 withdrew briefly from the front line in Mulamba after clashing with the FARDC on August 12 but fighting subsequently resumed near the RP503.[iii] Both sides have reportedly used heavy weaponry in the fighting and reinforced their positions near Mulamba since August 10.[iv]

M23 has reinforced its positions in several areas in South Kivu in recent days. Congolese media reported that M23 redeployed troops and heavy weaponry “en masse” from Bukavu and several villages in Kabare district along the RN2 in South Kivu, including Katana, to the frontlines in Walungu district and near Kamanyola on the RN5 toward Uvira town.[v] Wazalendo fighters reportedly took control of Katana and surrounding villages and briefly entered several neighborhoods in Bukavu on August 12 after M23 relocated troops.[vi] The Congolese media outlet Kivu Morning Post had reported previously that Wazalendo fighters moved freely and looted property after M23 forces withdrew in Katana as early as August 10.[vii]

Major Political Developments

The FARDC accused M23 of violating the Qatari-brokered ceasefire from July and threatened to retaliate. FARDC spokesperson Sylvain Ekenge said that M23 has perpetrated “almost daily attacks” on FARDC positions in North and South Kivu and “targeted massacres” of ethnic Hutu civilians in North Kivu in a communiqué released on August 12.[viii] Ekenge said that M23 violated the US-brokered and Qatari-brokered accords with its recent attacks and published false and inflammatory statements in the media.[ix] Ekenge warned that the FARDC “reserves the right to respond appropriately” to M23’s aggression in the statement.[x]

M23 accused the FARDC of violating the ceasefire and building up troops. M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said that the FARDC has “continued its offensive military maneuvers aimed at full-scale war” in violation of the ceasefire in a communiqué released on August 11.[xi] Kanyuka accused the FARDC of launching “systematic attacks on densely populated areas” and undermining peace talks in the statement.[xii] Kanyuka claimed that the FARDC repositioned a significant number of troops and military equipment into six strategic locations on the front lines in North and South Kivu.[xiii] Kanyuka claimed that over 1,100 FARDC troops arrived in Uvira town on two boats from Kalemie in Tanganyika province on August 10.[xiv] Kanyuka claimed in a separate statement on August 12 that the FARDC recently landed five Russian-made Antonov planes loaded with troops and military equipment in Walikale district.[xv] The pro-M23 media outlet Great Lakes Eye cited “sources from the Burundian and Congolese armies” on August 13 who claimed that an Azerbaijani cargo plane landed in Bujumbura, the economic capital of Burundi—about 15 miles east of Uvira town—from Saudi Arabia with heavy and light military equipment intended for the FARDC in early August.[xvi] The outlet also claimed that two cargo aircraft from Turkey transported a shipment of heavy weaponry, armored vehicles, and advanced military technology to Kisangani in the central DRC in late July.[xvii]

The East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) held a joint virtual summit to discuss the security crisis in the eastern DRC. The joint bloc met to consider appointing former Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi to the panel of facilitators and review actions taken during a recent meeting between the EAC-SADC co-chairs and the panel of five facilitators in early August.[xviii] DRC President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame participated virtually in the joint summit.[xix]

The United States sanctioned several entities linked to the illegal mining and trafficking of critical minerals in North Kivu. The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Coalition des Patriotes Résistants Congolais-Force de Frappe (PARECO-FF), an armed group that operates primarily in Masisi district in North Kivu, for its “illegal mining operations and taxation schemes” around coltan mining sites in Rubaya in Masisi between 2022 and early 2024 on August 13.[xx] The US Treasury Department also sanctioned a Congolese mining company, the Cooperative des Artisanaux Miniers du Congo (CDMC), that sold minerals mined in PARCEO-FF’s areas of control and two Hong Kong-based export companies that bought minerals from the CDMC.[xxi] A senior official told Reuters on August 12 that the sanctions are part of the Trump administration’s strategy to support peace and stability in the eastern DRC and disenfranchise illegal commerce to “make the licit trade that much more appealing.”[xxii]

Over 50 US lawmakers called for the Trump administration to disclose more information on the US-DRC minerals deal. US House Representative Linda Sánchez and 51 Democratic lawmakers signed off on a letter to President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on August 11 that called on the administration to “develop a transparent and participatory process” for US-DRC negotiations on a minerals deal and share more information with the public.[xxiii]

M23 took further steps to establish a judicial system in areas that it controls. Corneille Nangaa, head of Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), appointed 25 members for a commission that will “oversee the process of establishing courts and tribunals” aimed at “reviving justice” in M23-controlled areas in a statement released on August 12.[xxiv] The statement said that the “restoration of judicial authority has become a strategic priority” for M23.[xxv]

Congolese intelligence and military services searched a property owned by former DRC President Joseph Kabila in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital. Kivu Morning Post cited sources close to Kabila who said that authorities from the Congolese military police and Republican Guard conducted a search operation at a Kabila residence in the Gombe commune in Kinshasa on August 12.[xxvi]