Congo War Security Review, June 5, 2026

Data Cutoff: June 5, 2026, at 1 P.M. EST

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Key Takeaway: The Congolese government is reportedly building up troops in North and South Kivu. The United States sanctioned senior M23 and Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) commanders operating in the eastern DRC. Pro-Congolese government forces clashed with M23-aligned militia fighters in the South Kivu highlands. Pro-Congolese government forces clashed with M23 near the Masisi-Walikale district border in North Kivu.

Kinetic Activity in M23-Controlled Areas    

The Congolese army (FARDC) reportedly conducted a drone attack on an M23 position north of Goma. The attack reportedly targeted an M23 position in Kibati village in Nyiragongo district in North Kivu, about five miles north of Goma on the RN2 and near the Three Antennas, not far from the border with Rwanda, on June 2.[1]

Northern Axis: Lubero-Butembo-Beni-Bunia  

Nothing significant to report.  

Southern Axis: Bukavu-Uvira-Baraka-Kalemie

Pro-Congolese government forces clashed with M23-aligned militia fighters in the South Kivu highlands. The FARDC, pro-Congolese government Wazalendo fighters, and Burundian army (FDNB) troops reportedly clashed with M23-aligned Twirwaneho fighters in several villages around Minembwe town in Fizi district, including Kakenge and Bidegu, using drones and heavy weaponry on June 2 and 3.[2] Twirwaneho fighters also reportedly used drones and other types of heavy weapons in the fighting.[3] M23’s political spokesman, Lawrence Kanyuka, claimed in several statements on social media that DRC coalition forces bombed Kakenge, Bidegu, and Mikenge—about 15 miles north of Minembwe town on the RP527—using one-way attack (OWA) drones and rocket launchers during the fighting that spilled into June 4.[4] Kanyuka claimed that pro-Congolese government forces then bombed Kakenge, Bidegu, and Mikenge using OWA and KT-1 or KT-6 type drones again on June 5.[5]

M23 clashed with Wazalendo fighters north of Bukavu near the Kahuzi-Biega National Park (PNKB). The Congolese media outlet Radio Maendeleo reported on social media that the two sides clashed near Lukananda village, roughly six miles south of the Kavumu airport on the RN2, in Kabare district on June 1.[6] The organization that runs the PNKB said in a statement on June 1 that Wazalendo fighters had killed a park ranger in an incursion in the area on May 31.[7] CTP reported in late May that the two sides had clashed in the Kavumu area, including in Mbayo and Tshivanga villages—the latter about two and a half miles from Lukananda—in mid-May.[8]

Northwest Axis: Masisi-Walikale-Lubutu-Kisangani 

Pro-Congolese government forces clashed with M23 near the Masisi-Walikale district border in North Kivu. The FARDC and Wazalendo fighters reportedly attacked M23 and tried to recapture Buhimba and Kibati villages near and on the RP529 on May 31 and June 1.[9] Buhimba and Kibati are about 11 and 21 miles west of Nyabiondo town on the RP529 in Masisi and Walikale districts, respectively. Pro-Congolese government media sources claimed that FARDC-Wazalendo fighters recaptured Buhimba on June 2.[10] The Congolese media outlet Actualite.cd reported that FARDC and Wazalendo fighters withdrew from Kibati on June 4 and retreated westward on the RP529 toward Mungazi.[11]

The two sides also reportedly clashed west of Masisi town and in southern Masisi district. Wazalendo fighters reportedly attacked M23 on a local road between Burora and Loashi villages, the latter about four miles north of Masisi town on the RP529, on May 30.[12] M23 had launched a counteroffensive further to the south of Masisi town, after DRC coalition forces conducted an offensive on Rubaya town, and began recapturing ground that it had lost in late May. Regional media sources reported that M23 wounded a senior commander of a Wazalendo group allied with the FARDC and the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) militia during clashes that occurred in Mulema, reportedly in the Nyamaboko group near Ngululu, on the Rubaya axis in late May.[13] Wazalendo fighters still reportedly control the Katoyi sector capital and parts of the road from Ngungu and the Ufamandu group in southern Masisi near the border with Kalehe district in South Kivu that it had captured during its late May offensive.[14] M23 reportedly continued retaking villages around Rubaya, however, and dislodged Wazalendo fighters to recapture at least three villages—Luke, Mulema, and Ndete—on a line of advance northwest of Rubaya in the southern Osso Banyungu sector around May 30.[15] The Congolese media outlet Kivu Morning Post reported that M23 repelled Wazalendo fighters from Lushebere village, about three miles northeast of Ndete on a local road, after they had killed one M23 fighter and two civilians in an attack on June 2.[16] Clashes also reportedly took place between M23 and pro-Congolese government forces in Kasenyi village and in the Kibabi group, roughly 12 miles west of Rubaya, in the Bahunde chiefdom around May 28 to 30, according to the Congolese media outlet Radio Okapi.[17]

Wazalendos attacked M23 furhter north in Masisi district on the RP1030. Actualite.cd reported that M23 repelled a Wazalendo attack on its position in Kalembe on the RP1030 on June 2.[18]

Southwest Axis: Bukavu-Kamituga-Shabunda-Kindu  

Nothing significant to report.  

Major Political Developments

The Congolese government is reportedly building up troops in North and South Kivu. CTP reported previously that two additional FDNB battalions, or as many as 1,300 troops, reportedly deployed to South Kivu in support of the Congolese government in mid-May.[19] Twirwaneho had claimed in a statement on social media in late May that the FDNB and FARDC had deployed more troops and were preparing for a “major offensive” on Minembwe.[20] Kanyuka claimed in a statement on social media on June 1 that DRC coalition forces were building up troops and weaponry “across multiple front line positions, particularly in South Kivu.”[21] M23-aligned sources reported that FARDC troops—including special force units known as the “Owls”—FDNB troops, Wazalendo fighters and FDLR elements, and private military contractors reportedly deployed to various positions on the RN5 in the Ruzizi Plain, the midlands to the west of the plain, and toward Minembwe in the Fizi and Mwenga district highlands in the past week.[22] Congolese government authorities had suspended civilian traffic with M23-controlled territory on the RN5 around May 19.[23] In North Kivu, a pro-Congolese government source and possible FARDC soldier claimed on social media on June 3 that “several thousand commando units” had recently arrived in Walikale and Masisi districts to fight M23.[24]

The United States sanctioned senior M23 and FDLR commanders operating in the eastern DRC. The US Treasury Department announced on June 2 that it imposed sanctions on John Nzenze, M23’s intelligence chief, and FDLR intelligence and special operations commander Gustave Kubwayo.[25] US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the sanctions supported the Washington Accords and a “peaceful resolution” to the conflict.[26]

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the United States expects the DRC and Rwanda to comply with their security obligations under the Washington Accords by mid-July. Rubio said at a hearing for the US House Foreign Affairs Committee on June 3 that compliance under the Washington Accords is occurring and that the United States expects Rwanda to withdraw its troops from the eastern DRC by mid-July.[27] Rubio said that the United States still needs to resolve the “M23 problem.”[28]

Significant US-Backed Regional Economic Activity

Nothing significant to report.