Congo War Security Review

* CTP will be pausing the Congo War Security Review for Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States on January 19. The next update will publish as usual on January 21. *

Data Cutoff: January 16, 2026, at 1 P.M. EST

To receive the Africa File and Congo War Security Review via email, please subscribe here.  

Follow CTP on X, LinkedIn, and BlueSky for daily updates.  

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

Key Takeaway: M23 said that it would withdraw fully from Uvira town in South Kivu. M23-aligned fighters captured a village from pro-Congolese government forces near Minembwe town in the South Kivu highlands. M23 clashed with pro-Congolese government Wazalendo fighters in Rutshuru district in North Kivu. Suspected fighters from the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) attacked M23 in Rutshuru district.

Kinetic Activity in M23-Controlled Areas    

M23 clashed with pro-Congolese government Wazalendo fighters in Rutshuru district in North Kivu. M23 reportedly clashed with Wazalendo fighters in Bumbasha—about three miles east of Mweso on the RP1030 a local road—in the Bukombo group in Bwito chiefdom in Rutshuru on January 15.[i] The Congolese media outlet Kivu Morning Post reported that M23 then clashed with Wazalendos in the Kyahemba locality in Bukombo on January 16.[ii] Kyahemba is about nine miles northwest of Kitchanga town on the RP1030 in Masisi district. The clashes are part of M23 counterinsurgency operations against Wazalendo fighters that have escalated in Bukombo since earlier this week.[iii]

Suspected fighters from the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) attacked M23 in northern Bwito. Suspected FDLR militants reportedly attacked M23 in an incursion on Kibirizi village in the Mutanda group in northern Bwito on January 15.[iv] Kibirizi is on the edge of the Virunga National Park, about 10 miles south of the Rwindi airport near the RN2. Suspected FDLR militants and Wazalendo fighters from Virunga regularly conduct incursions on M23-controlled areas in this part of Bwito.

Northern Axis: Lubero-Butembo-Beni-Bunia  

Nothing significant to report.  

Southern Axis: Bukavu-Uvira-Baraka-Kalemie

M23-aligned fighters captured a village from pro-Congolese government forces near Minembwe town in the South Kivu highlands. M23-aligned Twirwaneho fighters had clashed with pro-Congolese government forces in Abala village—roughly 26 miles east of Minembwe via the RP527 and a local road—in Fizi district on January 12.[v] Twirwaneho had accused the Burundian army on January 8 of deploying additional troops to Bibogobogo and Point Zéro villages east of Minembwe near Abala.[vi] The Congolese army (FARDC) reportedly conducted numerous airstrikes on M23 and Twirwaneho positions in South Kivu on January 14, including on Twirwaneho positions around Minembwe.[vii] Twirwaneho fighters clashed with the FARDC in Point Zéro, about 16 miles east of Minembwe on a local road, and other nearby localities on January 15 and 16.[viii] Twirwaneho reportedly captured Point Zéro and claimed that it shot down an FARDC drone over Minembwe in the fighting on January 16.[ix] The independent Congolese journalist Héritier Munyampfura reported that fighting continued between Twirwaneho and pro-Congolese government forces in Mukoko village, which is near Minembwe, on January 16.[x]

Twirwaneho clashed with pro-Congolese government forces elsewhere in the South Kivu highlands. Twirwaneho fighters reportedly clashed with pro-Congolese government positions in Tubwetubwe village in the Itombwe sector in Mwenga district on January 16.[xi] CTP is unable to verify the location of Tubwetubwe.

Northwest Axis: Masisi-Walikale-Lubutu-Kisangani

Nothing significant to report.  

Southwest Axis: Bukavu-Kamituga-Shabunda-Kindu  

Nothing significant to report.  

Major Political Developments  

M23 said that it would withdraw fully from Uvira town in South Kivu. Corneille Nangaa, M23’s political head, said that M23 would disengage from Uvira in a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres on January 15.[xii] Nangaa had announced that M23 would leave Uvira in mid-December, but the group maintained control of key points and installed interim military and political personnel in the town.[xiii] Nangaa said that M23 would withdraw its “observation and monitoring unit” from the city and defer responsibility for the city’s security to the international community.[xiv] Nangaa called on the international community to deploy a peacekeeping force and prevent pro-Congolese government authorities from retaking control.[xv]