KINSHASA: The Congolese government on Wednesday said the M23 armed group’s recent announcement that it would withdraw troops from the key eastern city of Uvira was a “distraction.”
The Rwanda-backed militia seized the strategic city near the border with Burundi last Wednesday, days after the Congolese and Rwandan governments signed a peace deal — an agreement US President Donald Trump had hailed as a “great miracle.”
“The son, M23, offers itself in sacrifice before the American mediator to protect the father, Rwanda,” Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said on Wednesday.
The announcement is a “non-event, a diversion, a distraction... We are waiting for the withdrawal of Rwandan troops from all parts of our territory,” he added.
The M23’s latest advance has thrown the future of the peace process into doubt and raised fears of a wider regional war.
Its capture of Uvira — a city of several hundred thousand people — allowed it to control the land border with Burundi and cut the DRC off from military support from its neighbor.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that Rwanda had clearly violated the peace agreement it signed with its neighbor on December 4, and vowed unspecified “action” in response.
A day earlier, US ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz accused Rwanda of “leading the region toward more instability and toward war.”
Leader of the M23’s political branch announced Tuesday in a statement that the group would “unilaterally withdraw its forces from the city of Uvira, as requested by the US mediators.”
M23 fighters were still present in Uvira on Wednesday, according to residents contacted by AFP.
The DRC’s mineral-rich east has been ravaged by three decades of conflict. Since taking up arms again in 2021, the M23 has seized swathes of territory, leading to a spiralling humanitarian crisis.
While Kigali has never explicitly acknowledged backing the armed group, Washington has directly blamed Rwanda for the M23’s capture of Uvira.
Muyaya accused Rwandan President Paul Kagame of seeking to “entrench his control over this part of our country through violence,” arguing these actions “worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian situation.”
At least 85,000 refugees have fled into Burundi since the advance, with the numbers rising daily, Burundian officials said Tuesday.
DR Congo says M23 withdrawal from key city a ‘distraction’
https://arab.news/vt6hz
DR Congo says M23 withdrawal from key city a ‘distraction’
- “The son, M23, offers itself in sacrifice before the American mediator to protect the father, Rwanda,” Muyaya said
- The announcement is a “non-event, a diversion, a distraction”
Bangladesh rocked by unrest over death of student leader
- Protesters torch media offices, political sites and cultural landmarks
- Government declares state of mourning, urges calm amid rising tensions
Violent protests erupted in several cities across Bangladesh after the death of youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi late on Thursday, with concerns of further unrest ahead of national elections in which he was due to run.
Hadi, 32, a spokesperson for the Inquilab Mancha platform who participated in the student-led protests that overthrew the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was shot in the head by masked assailants in Dhaka last Friday while launching his campaign for the elections.
He was initially treated at a local hospital before being flown to Singapore for advanced medical care, where he died after spending six days on life support.
Hadi was an outspoken critic of India, and Inquilab Mancha describes itself on its website as a “revolutionary cultural platform inspired by the spirit of uprising.”
In Dhaka, videos circulating on social media showed mobs vandalising the offices of the country’s largest daily newspaper, Prothom Alo, as well as the Daily Star.
The demonstrations were marked by emotionally charged slogans invoking Hadi’s name, with protesters vowing to continue their movement and demanding swift justice. Several areas remained tense, with additional police and paramilitary forces deployed to prevent further violence.
Police did not immediately comment, while the fire service said the blaze at the Daily Star was under control. Troops were deployed to the scene, and firefighters rescued journalists trapped inside the building.
Bangladesh has been governed by an interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus since August 2024, after Hasina fled to India following a student-led uprising. The government has been grappling with fresh protests over delayed reforms, and warnings of unrest by Hasina’s party, which has been barred from the vote, scheduled for February 12.
In a televised address to the nation following Hadi’s death, Yunus said: “His passing represents an irreplaceable loss to the nation’s political and democratic sphere.”
Urging citizens to remain calm, Yunus said the government was committed to ensuring a transparent investigation and bringing all those responsible to justice. He also appealed for restraint, warning that violence would only undermine the country’s path toward a credible election.
The interim administration has declared Saturday a day of state mourning in honor of Hadi, with national flags to be flown at half-mast and special prayers planned across the country. The home of the country’s first president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of Hasina, was vandalized and set on fire once again, after having been attacked twice previously in February and August last year.
In Dhaka, the premises of the prominent Bengali cultural organization Chhayanaut were vandalized and torched. In the northwestern district of Rajshahi, protesters demolished an Awami League party office using a bulldozer, while demonstrators blocked major highways in several other districts.
Violence was also reported in a number of cities across Bangladesh, including the port city of Chittagong, where protesters attacked the Indian Assistant High Commission and set fire to a house belonging to a former Awami League education minister. The unrest follows fresh anti-India protests earlier in the week, with ties between the neighbors deteriorating since Hasina fled to Delhi. On Wednesday, hundreds of demonstrators under the banner “July Oikya” (July Unity) marched toward the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, chanting anti-India slogans, while also demanding the return of Hasina.
