Africa-Press – Zambia. THE M23 armed group has begun pulling out its forces from the key town of Uvira in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, its spokespeople say, in accordance with a request from United States mediators in the conflict.
Footage aired exclusively on Al Jazeera on Wednesday appeared to show dozens of fighters from the group and numerous vehicles on the move from the M23’s main base in the strategic town.
Willy Ngoma, an M23 spokesperson, posted on X that the withdrawal was under way.
“For the sake of peace, our troops began leaving the town of Uvira this afternoon,” he said.
Bertrand Bisimwa, head of the M23’s political wing, said the movement of forces would be completed by Thursday.
“We call upon the civilian population to remain calm,” he posted on X, adding that the group called on mediators and other partners to ensure the town was “protected from violence, retaliation, and re-militarisation”.
Attention has focused on the town, located in South Kivu province near the border with Burundi, since it was seized by the Rwanda-backed militia last week, imperilling a tenuous US-brokered peace agreement between Kinshasa and Kigali signed amid fanfare just days earlier and raising fears of a widening conflict.
After warnings from the US, the group said earlier this week that it would withdraw from the town as a “unilateral trust-building measure” to give the peace process a chance to succeed.
“These are the soldiers leaving the main headquarters, the main operational base of the town of Uvira. They are going now, leaving. We cannot say exactly where they are going, how many kilometres out from this town of Uvira,” he said.
He said the withdrawal, which the group said was being undertaken in line with US demands, was a “big step” in the peace process.
Earlier on Wednesday, the DRC government described M23’s pledge to withdraw from Uvira as a “nonevent, a diversion, a distraction” while the group said its conditions for a pullout were yet to be met.
“The intention is to distract the American mediation team, which is preparing to take measures against Rwanda,” DRC Communications Minister Patrick Muyaya told the Reuters news agency.
M23 was demanding a neutral force be deployed to maintain security in the town after its pullout to avoid a repeat of previous withdrawals that it said have led to renewed violence.
Uaykani said it was unclear who would control the town in the wake of M23’s departure and some residents were already expressing fears of a deterioration in security conditions.
Uaykani had reported earlier that a fragile sense of normality was returning to the town after days of fighting.
Markets were reopening, and traffic was returning to the streets, he said – although daily life remained overshadowed by the ongoing political instability.
Resident Feza Mariam said the priority for locals was an end to the fighting.
“We don’t know anything about the political process that they’re talking about,” she said.
“The only thing we need is peace. Anyone who is able to provide us with peace is welcome here.”
Resident Eliza Mapendo said locals had suffered “a lot” but calm had been restored sufficiently for daily life to begin to resume.
“For now, we feel secure, and we’re working freely in this market,” she said, adding that the sense of normality was fragile.
“They could attack without any reason and take your business away.”
Meanwhile, DRC army spokesperson Sylvain Ekenge told Reuters that fighting was continuing daily across the conflict-hit east, where M23 has made a rapid advance this year.
“There isn’t a day without fighting in North Kivu and South Kivu,” Ekenge said.
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