Demokratische Republik Kongo

A team of UN peacekeepers arrived in the flashpoint eastern Democratic Republic of Congo town of Uvira to prepare the deployment of a ceasefire‑monitoring mission, the force said Tuesday. … On Tuesday, MONUSCO and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, a grouping of surrounding countries, said in a statement they had deployed a joint exploratory and preliminary assessment mission to Uvira.

The military spokesperson for the M23 rebel group, Lieutenant-Colonel Willy Ngoma, was killed early Tuesday in a drone strike near Rubaya in North Kivu province, multiple sources confirmed, dealing a significant blow to the rebel movement amid ongoing ceasefire efforts. According to a senior M23 official, a regional diplomat, and a Western government adviser cited by Reuters, the strike occurred around 3:00 a.m. near Rubaya—a key coltan-mining town producing approximately 15% of global supply.

The Democratic Republic of Congo said Friday it had "accepted the principle of a ceasefire" involving a "strict and immediate" freeze of positions in the conflict in the east of the country. It did not give a date for when it would take effect, but the announcement comes after mediator Angola called on the Congolese government and the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group to respect a ceasefire starting on February 18.

The UN on Tuesday sought “security guarantees” from warring parties in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to enable its soldiers to use a key airport for monitoring a planned ceasefire.

South Africa has moved to withdraw its peacekeepers deployed at the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) after nearly three decades of service. 

The United Nations has announced that it would shortly send a peacekeeping mission to the city of Uvira in eastern DR Congo in order to closely monitor adherence to the ceasefire in the region. … At the meeting in Doha on Monday between representatives from both the M23 rebel group and the Congolese government, both sides agreed to set up a way to monitor a "permanent ceasefire", according to Qatar.

The Republic of Congo has set the presidential election for March 15. This was announced by the government's spokesperson Thierry Moungalla.

The Congolese army said Monday it had retaken control of the strategic city of Uvira after the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group withdrew.

Operational constraints and regional tensions prevent the UN peacekeeping mission from responding effectively to escalating violence. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has renewed its Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) mission’s mandate until 20 December 2026 amid ongoing clashes in the country’s east. 

A militia linked to the Islamic State group staged a simultaneous attack on three villages in the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 14 people, the military and local sources said on Friday, January 2. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) carried out the attacks overnight within a seven-kilometre radius (4.3 miles) in the northwest of North Kivu province.