Congo War Security Review, September 29, 2025

Data Cutoff: September 29, 2025, at 1 P.M. EST

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Key Takeaway: The Congolese army destroyed a key M23-controlled bridge on the RP1030 in North Kivu. M23 captured several villages west of Nzibira in South Kivu. The Congolese government dispatched a delegation to the United States to advance bilateral security cooperation as part of the US-backed peace agreement. M23 commissioned over 200 political appointees and civil servants.

Kinetic Activity in Rutshuru & Eastern Masisi Districts

M23 repelled several pro-Congolese government Wazalendo attacks in Rutshuru district in North Kivu. Congolese media reported that M23 repelled the attacks in four villages in the Bukombo group in Bwito chiefdom in Rutshuru on September 29.[i] M23 last clashed with Wazalendo fighters in Bukombo in mid-September.[ii]

Northern Axis: Lubero-Butembo-Beni-Bunia

Nothing significant to report.

Southern Axis: Bukavu-Uvira-Baraka-Kalemie

The Congolese army (FARDC) reportedly bombed M23-aligned militia positions in southern South Kivu. Lawrence Kanyuka, M23’s political spokesperson, accused the FARDC and the Burundian army (FDNB) of carrying out air attacks on M23-aligned Twirwaneho rebel positions in Mikenge and nearby villages on RP527 in Fizi district on September 29.[iii] Kanyuka claimed that the FARDC and FDNB launched the attacks from Uvira town and Burundi.[iv]

Northwest Axis: Masisi-Walikale-Lubutu-Kisangani

The FARDC destroyed a key M23-controlled bridge on the RP1030 in North Kivu. The FARDC reportedly bombed and destroyed the Minjenje bridge on the RP1030 on the border between Masisi and Walikale districts using CH-4 attack drones on September 28.[v] The bridge is about three miles southeast of Mpeti— M23’s forward operating base on the RP1030. The FARDC also targeted M23 positions in Mpeti in the attacks.[vi] Kanyuka denounced the attacks on social media as “deliberate sabotage.”[vii] FARDC sources told Congolese media that the strikes intended to thwart M23’s advance on Pinga.[viii] The Congolese media outlet Actualite.cd reported that M23 had repaired the bridge and began using it to move heavy weaponry to Mpeti from its supply points in Kalembe and Kitchanga on September 24.[ix]

Wazalendo fighters clashed with M23 near Nyabiondo on the RP529 in Walikale district. Congolese media reported that Wazalendo fighters attacked M23 in Kasopo and Kaandja villages on September 29.[x] Kasopo and Kaandja are about seven and two miles from Nyabiondo on the RP529, respectively. Congolese media reported that Wazalendo fighters also attacked M23 near Kashebere on the RP529 in Walikale on September 27.[xi]

Wazalendo fighters clashed with M23 near Masisi town. The Congolese media outlet Radio Okapi reported that Wazalendo fighters clashed with M23 in the Buabo group, about nine miles southwest of Masisi, on September 28.[xii] M23 last clashed with Wazalendo fighters in Buabo in late August.[xiii]

Wazalendo fighters attacked M23 in north-central Masisi district. The Congolese media outlet Kivu Morning Post reported that Wazalendos attacked M23 in Mihara village in the Bashali chiefdom in Masisi on September 28.[xiv] Mihara is about 10 miles west of Mweso on the RP1030.

Southwest Axis: Bukavu-Kamituga-Shabunda-Kindu

M23 captured several villages west of Nzibira in South Kivu. The Congolese news outlet Tazama RDC reported that M23 advanced 12 miles west of Nzibira on the RP503 and captured two villages from pro-Congolese government forces on September 28.[xv] The outlet reported that M23 then advanced two miles further west on the RP503 and attacked FARDC positions in Bukarakara village in Kabare district on September 29.[xvi]

The FARDC conducted an airstrike on M23 positions in Nzibira. Congolese media sources reported on social media that the FARDC bombed M23-controlled Nzibira using a CH-4 drone on September 27.[xvii] Independent Congolese journalist Steve Wembi reported that the FARDC drone used in the attack on Nzibira deployed from Burundi.[xviii]

Major Political Developments

The Congolese government dispatched a delegation to the United States to advance bilateral security cooperation as part of the US-backed peace agreement. The French state media outlet Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported on September 28 that Congolese government sent a nine-member delegation of military and intelligence experts to the United States to discuss the security aspects of the peace deal following DRC President Félix Tshisekedi’s meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in late September.[xix] RFI reported that the Congolese government aims to see the peace deal “go beyond the purely commercial framework” and will urge the United States to provide security assistance to the DRC to protect American economic interests in the DRC as part of US national security.[xx] A member of the delegation told RFI that the DRC aims to model US-DRC cooperation after the United States’ defense partnerships with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.[xxi]

M23 commissioned over 200 political appointees and civil servants. M23 staged a graduation ceremony for over 200 political and administrative cadres who completed a training workshop in Goma on September 27.[xxii] Corneille Nangaa, M23’s political chief, said that the ceremony marked an “important step toward the establishment of functional institutions” in areas that M23 controls.[xxiii] Nangaa said that M23 is pursuing a holistic “national refoundation project” and that the “pillars of the [Congolese] state are gradually being put in place for a new governance” of the DRC.[xxiv] Nangaa warned against corruption and called on the cadres to maintain loyalty to the group’s cause.[xxv]