The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s M23 rebels announced on Thursday their withdrawal from a strategic military base in the Rumangabo area in eastern DRC that was seized in October 2022.
The rebel group added that the base was handed over to delegates of the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF), which is organizing peace talks between the DRC federal government and the Tutsi-led movement.
Last month, the M23 group said that its withdrawal from captured territories is a sign of support for the peace process overseen by the East African Community and the agreements reached last November during a regional leaders’ summit in Angola’s capital, Luanda.
Less than two weeks ago, M23 militants left Kibumba, around 20 km from the city of Goma, handing positions over to the East African Community Regional Force, and saying it was “a gesture of goodwill.”
“It is in the name of peace and a gesture that is part of the recommendations resulting from the mini-summit of heads of state held in Angola in November 2022,” said Colonel Imani Nzenze, a military leader of the movement, adding that he hopes “the government in Kinshasa will seize this opportunity.”
The March 23 movement was initially founded in 2012, when it started an insurgency that lasted about a year. The militant group recovered in 2017, and in 2022 it managed to occupy large areas in eastern DRC.