Lull was observed on Monday morning, across various front lines in Masisi territory, especially around Sake (North
Kivu) in eastern DRC, several correspondents in the region confirmed to APA.
According to the UN-sponsored Radio Okapi, M23 rebels have begun to withdraw from some villages they had previously occupied in North Kivu province.
In the Bashali village, the M23 rebels left the town of Mweso since Sunday night taking with them casualities who were admitted to Mweso hospital as well as some members of the civilian communities.
They would have left for Kitshanga, while other elements would be positioned in Muongozi, Busumba and Kirumbu, around Mweso, according to the same source.
The UN media adds that it is the Mai-Mai and Nyatura who took control of Mweso and some other nearby villages. These local fighters fired shots as they entered these positions abandoned by the M23 rebels, it
said,
Around Sake, M23 fighters no longer equally visible in the villages of Karuba, Muremure, Nkingo, Kagano and Kihuli.
The M23 rebels have captured swathes of territory in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since re-emerging from dormancy in late 2021, claiming the government had ignored a pledge to integrate them into the army.
The withdraw coincided with an urgent appeal by UN chief Antonio Guterres for the M23 rebels to honour the ceasefire and move toward fully withdrawing from the conflict-ridden country.
Despite the clashes, the M23 rebels in a statement on Tuesday announced what they called “an effective ceasefire” at 12:00 “to open the way for direct dialogue with the Kinshasa government”.
The DRC accuses Rwanda of backing the rebels, who have displaced over half a million people in their long campaign.
Rwanda has strongly denied it while accusing DR Congo’s army of backing a notorious Rwandan Hutu rebel group of FDLR in recent clashes with the M23 insurgents.
CU/abj/APA