Congo War Security Review, April 30, 2025

Data Cutoff: April 30, 2025, at 1 P.M. EST

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Read CTP’s newest report on Uganda's role in the eastern DRC conflict in Africa File Special Edition: Uganda in the DRC’s M23 Conflict—Friend to All, Enemy to None.

Read CTP’s latest analysis on peace talks between the DRC, M23, and Rwanda in the Congo War Security Review Special Edition: Slow and Steady – What to Make of DRC-M23 Peace Talks.

Read CTP’s latest analysis on the war in the eastern DRC in the weekly Africa File here. To receive the weekly Africa File and/or the daily Congo War Security Review via email, please subscribe here.

Key Takeaway: Corneille Nangaa, head of Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), M23’s political branch, said that the AFC will “keep fighting” despite peace negotiations. Representatives from the DRC, France, Qatar, Rwanda, Togo, and the United States met for peace consultations in Qatar. M23 allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross to evacuate Congolese national police officers and Congolese army troops from Goma. M23 reportedly seized control of a gold mining village in Kalehe district in northern South Kivu.

Northern Axis: Lubero-Butembo-Beni-Bunia

Nothing significant to report.

Southern Axis: Bukavu-Uvira-Baraka-Kalemie

M23 reportedly seized control of a gold mining village in Kalehe district in northern South Kivu province. A journalist for the Congolese media outlet Tazama RDC reported on social media that M23 captured Katasomwa village in southern Kalehe district on April 29.[1] Katasomwa is located on the northern tip of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park.[2]

Northwest Axis: Masisi-Walikale-Lubutu-Kisangani

M23 clashed with pro-Congolese government Wazalendo fighters in two remote villages in Walikale district in western North Kivu province. The Congolese news outlet Actualite.cd reported on April 30 that M23 has clashed repeatedly with Wazalendo fighters in two villages—Rusamambu and Buleusa—in recent days.[3] Buleusa is roughly 20 miles west of Kanyabayonga in Lubero district. Actualite.cd said that Wazalendo fighters control Rusamambu and M23 controls Buleusa, and that the two groups have clashed during patrols from their respective villages.[4] The two villages are about 9 miles apart on a local road. M23 last clashed with Wazalendo fighters near Buleusa on April 17.[5]

Southwest Axis: Bukavu-Kamituga-Shabunda-Kindu

Nothing significant to report.

Major Political Developments

Representatives from the DRC, France, Qatar, Rwanda, Togo, and the United States met for peace consultations in Doha, the Qatari capital, on April 30.[6] The Qatari foreign ministry released a joint statement on April 30, which said that the meeting centered around ongoing Qatari-mediated peace talks between the DRC and M23 and the security and humanitarian crisis in the eastern DRC.[7] The French investigative outlet Africa Intelligence reported on April 30 that the meeting also sought to finalize details of the “pre-peace agreement” between the DRC and Rwanda.[8] Togo is spearheading an African-led peace initiative between the DRC, M23, and Rwanda, while France has positioned itself as another potential non-African mediator over the last several years.[9] DRC President Félix Tshisekedi addressed the US-brokered agreement for the first time publicly as “a step in the right direction” on April 29 and said that he seeks to bring “true and lasting peace” with Rwanda.[10] The US brokered a declaration of principles agreement between the DRC and Rwanda on April 25 and set a deadline for May 2 for the parties to generate a draft peace deal.[11]

Troy Fitrell, a senior diplomat for the US State Department Africa bureau, met with senior Rwandan officials for the first “U.S.-Rwanda bilateral strategic dialogue.” Fitrell met with the Rwandan foreign minister and the Rwandan ambassador to the United States in Washington to launch the inaugural dialogue on April 29.[12]

Corneille Nangaa, head of Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), M23’s political branch, said that the AFC will “keep fighting” despite peace negotiations in an interview with British daily newspaper The Telegraph.[13] Nangaa told The Telegraph that the AFC rejects any long-term ceasefire as part of a US-brokered peace deal between the DRC and Rwanda on April 29.[14] Nangaa said that the AFC would refuse to make any further territorial concessions after withdrawing from the Walikale district capital in early April as a sign of goodwill in peace talks.[15] The AFC head claimed that most Congolese citizens “want the downfall of the Kinshasa government more than they want peace.”[16] Nangaa called Tshisekedi a “crook” and an “unreliable” negotiator and said that the AFC would “keep fighting” until Tshisekedi is overthrown or no longer in power.[17]

M23 allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to evacuate Congolese national police (CNP) officers and Congolese army (FARDC) troops from Goma. The ICRC said on April 30 that it began facilitating the withdrawal of CNP officers and FARDC soldiers and their families from UN military bases in Goma to Kinshasa, the Congolese capital.[18] The DRC government, M23, and the UN reportedly came to the arrangement after “lengthy negotiations” and called upon the ICRC as a “neutral intermediary” to facilitate the withdrawal.[19] The ICRC chief in Goma said that a series of convoys escorting the Congolese security forces over 1,000 miles from Goma to Kinshasa is “expected to last several days.”[20] The French magazine Jeune Afrique reported on April 30 that the convoys will travel through M23-held territory to the “front lines” with the FARDC where they will exfiltrate the eastern DRC to Kinshasa by air.[21] Jeune Afrique reported that M23 rejected the use of the Goma airport, which reportedly still remains inoperable, to transport the Congolese security forces.[22] It remains unclear how many members of the Congolese security forces are part of the ICRC convoys. The ICRC said on April 30 that “several hundred disarmed members” of the CNP and the FARDC will leave Goma.[23] M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said on social media on April 30 that M23 oversaw the transfer of 130 FARDC soldiers.[24] The UN had said that close to 1,500 FARDC soldiers were sheltering in UN bases in Goma in early April.[25]