Congo War Security Review

* CTP will be pausing the Congo War Security Review on July 21. CTP will resume its usual schedule on July 23. *

Data Cutoff: July 18, 2025, at 1 P.M. EST

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

Key Takeaway: The DRC arrested a top security official in DRC President Félix Tshisekedi’s office. The Rwandan government ratified the US-brokered peace agreement with the DRC. M23 clashed with pro-Congolese government Wazalendo fighters north of Bukavu in Kabare district in South Kivu. M23 clashed with Wazalendo fighters in several villages in Bwito chiefdom in Rutshuru district.

Kinetic Activity in Rutshuru & Eastern Masisi Districts

M23 clashed with pro-Congolese government Wazalendo fighters in several villages in Bwito chiefdom in Rutshuru district. Congolese media reported that M23 clashed with Wazalendo fighters in several villages in the Bukombo group, including Makomalehe, and in the Tongo group in Bwisha on July 17.[i] Makomalehe is roughly 18 miles northeast of Kitchanga town on the RP1030 road in Masisi district by a local road.

Southern Axis: Bukavu-Uvira-Baraka-Kalemie

M23 clashed with Wazalendo fighters north of Bukavu in Kabare district in South Kivu. The Congolese news outlet 7 sur 7 reported that M23 clashed with Wazalendos near Kavumu, which is about 18 miles north of Bukavu in Kabare on the RN2, on July 16.[ii]

M23 clashed with Wazalendo fighters south of the Walungu district capital in South Kivu. 7 sur 7 reported that M23 clashed with Wazalendos in Munzinzi, roughly 12 miles south of Walungu town on the RN2, on July 16.[iii]

Northwest Axis: Masisi-Walikale-Lubutu-Kisangani

Nothing significant to report.

Southwest Axis: Bukavu-Kamituga-Shabunda-Kindu

Nothing significant to report.

Major Political Developments

The DRC arrested a top security official in DRC President Félix Tshisekedi’s office. The French magazine Jeune Afrique reported that the DRC government arrested General Franck Ntumba and his chief of staff in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, on July 17.[iv] Ntumba was the head of the Maison Militaire, an entity that oversees military and security operations for the Congolese president, since 2020.[v] Jeune Afrique reported that Ntumba was “one of the main links” in the Congolese army command and a “driving force” behind the DRC’s defense strategy in the eastern DRC, including weapons procurement and the deployment of foreign mercenaries in the eastern DRC since late 2022.[vi] The DRC has purged several high-ranking military and intelligence officers in recent weeks on suspicions of an alleged plot to “eliminate” Tshisekedi.[vii] Jeune Afrique quoted a “senior official” in the Congolese interior ministry on July 18 who said that the DRC government has “feared ‘a mutiny or even a coup d’ état for several weeks.’”[viii]

The Rwandan government ratified the US-brokered peace agreement with the DRC. The Rwandan cabinet led by Rwandan President Paul Kagame approved a new law that ratified the peace agreement from late June on July 16.[ix]