After a ten-year lull, M23 rebels earlier this month resumed their activities in Eastern DRC by launching attacks that saw several areas captured.

In March 2022 it was reported that the rebel group had resumed its activities – attacking FADRC military positions in Chanzu and Runyonyi, in North Kivu province. The resurgence of attacks by M23 rebels has seen thousands of Congolese citizens flee to Uganda.

The rebels have however agreed to withdraw from positions they had captured, to allow for negotiations with DR Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi’s government. In the statement released on April 10, 2022 they said they would hand over the Congolese army soldiers captured during the fighting, to Red Cross.

Formed by former members of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) a Tutsi militia group that Rwanda and Uganda once supported, M23 was at its peak between 2012 and 2013.

Whereas in 2009 CNDP fighters were incorporated into the Congolese army following an agreement, in 2012, they rebelled over claims the agreement had not been respected by the Kinshasa governemnt and renamed their group M23.

The group later captured several parts in North Kivu but were later defeated and driven out of the areas they had captured.

They later signed an agreement and were reintegrated into society but some of the fighters remained in the bush. Following a 10 year lull, M23 rebels resumed attacks in 2022.