Congo War Security Review, July 23, 2025

Data Cutoff: July 23, 2025, at 1 P.M. EST

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Key Takeaway: The DRC and M23 signed a Qatari-brokered declaration of principles agreement. The declaration agreement aims to reach a final peace deal between the two sides by late August. Pro-Congolese government Wazalendo fighters attacked M23 in Goma in North Kivu. M23 clashed with Wazalendo fighters and suspected Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) militants in the Bwito chiefdom and near the Virunga National Park in Rutshuru district.

Kinetic Activity in Rutshuru & Eastern Masisi Districts

Pro-Congolese government Wazalendo fighters attacked M23 in Goma in North Kivu. The Congolese media outlet Radio Okapi reported that Wazalendo fighters attacked an M23 position in an area between the Mugunga neighborhood in western Goma and the Rusayu group in Nyiragongo district on July 21.[i] Congolese media reported that the Wazalendo fighters came from an undisclosed location north of Goma in the Virunga National Park.[ii]

M23 clashed with Wazalendo fighters in the Bwito chiefdom in Rutshuru district. Congolese media reported that M23 attacked Wazalendos in two localities in the Bukombo group in southern Bwito, roughly seven miles northeast of Kitchanga on the RP1030, on July 21 and July 22.[iii] M23 launched the attacks from its positions on the RP1030 road in eastern Masisi district.[iv]

M23 clashed with Wazalendos and suspected Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) militants on the edge of the Virunga National Park in Bwito. Congolese media reported that M23 attacked Wazalendo and suspected FDLR positions near the Tongo group in southeast Bwito, in Kazaroho village in the Bambo group in northeastern Bwito, and in western Bwisha chiefdom on the edge of the Virunga National Park on July 23.[v] The Congolese news outlet Kivu Morning Post reported that M23 shelled Wazalendo positions in the park from two positions north of Rutshuru town in Bwisha chiefdom.[vi]

Southern Axis: Bukavu-Uvira-Baraka-Kalemie

Nothing significant to report.

Northwest Axis: Masisi-Walikale-Lubutu-Kisangani

M23 clashed with Wazalendos in a remote area in Walikale district in North Kivu. M23 attacked Wazalendo fighters in a village in the Kisimba group in Walikale about six miles north of Pinga, a military hub in Masisi district on the RP1030, from July 19 to July 21.[vii] The Congolese news outlet Actualite.cd reported that M23 launched the attacks on Wazalendos in Kisimba from Mpeti village on the RP1030.[viii]

M23 clashed with Wazalendo fighters in southern Masisi district in North Kivu. Congolese media reported that M23 clashed with Wazalendos in several villages in the Katoyi and Osso Banyungu sectors in southern Masisi from July 21 to July 23.[ix]

Southwest Axis: Bukavu-Kamituga-Shabunda-Kindu

Nothing significant to report.

Major Political Developments

The DRC and M23 signed a Qatari-brokered declaration of principles agreement. Representatives from the DRC government and M23 signed the agreement in Doha, the Qatari capital, on July 19.[x] The new agreement binds “all forces engaged in the conflict” to observe a ceasefire monitored by an oversight mechanism and cease all “air, land, sea or lakes attacks, as well as all acts of sabotage” and “any attempt to seize by force new positions on the ground.”[xi] The two sides also committed to undertake “confidence building measures” that will seek to “create favorable conditions” for future talks, including the release of prisoners and detainees on both sides.[xii]

The declaration agreement aims to reach a final peace deal by late August. The declaration agreement went into effect “immediately upon its signature” on July 19—with a grace period until July 29—and set a timeline to “start negotiating a peace agreement” by August 8 and “reach consensus and sign the agreement” by August 18.[xiii] Qatari, M23, and Rwandan officials said that the “root causes” of the conflict—the most contentious issues between the DRC and M23 related to territorial control, refugee resettlement, and “land, demographic, and identity issues,” according to M23—will be negotiated during the less than two-week window between August 8 and August 18.[xiv]

M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka claimed that the DRC has already violated the ceasefire agreement. Kanyuka claimed in a statement on social media on July 20 that the DRC government deployed troops and heavy weaponry “on all fronts” in the eastern DRC and attacked civilians in South Kivu.[xv]