M23 rebels pledge to retreat from key position in eastern DRC

Violence from the group has caused hundreds of thousands of people to flee in fear from the DRC’s volatile east region.

The M23 rebel group, who have seized swathes of territory in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, pledged Friday to retreat from a strategic frontline position.

In a statement Friday, the rebels announced that it would withdraw from its position in the town of Kibumba – about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Goma, a commercial hub of over one million people, which the M23 briefly overran during their first big insurrection in 2012..

Kibumba lies on the current frontline between the M23 and Congolese troops, on a key highway leading to the city.

The M23 stated it was handing Kibumba over to the East African Community’s military force as a “goodwill gesture” in line with recent peace talks in Angola’s capital Luanda. It urged the authorities in Kinshasa to “grab this opportunity with both hands”.

A Tutsi-led group, the M23 rebel group re-emerged from dormancy late last year and has since advanced across the country’s troubled North Kivu province, and caused hundreds of thousands of people to flee in fear.

The DRC has accused its smaller central African neighbour Rwanda of backing the group, something which Kigali denies.

But the United States and France, among other Western countries as well as United Nations experts, agree with the DRC’s assessment.

Rwanda has also been excluded from a regional peacekeeping contingent, to which Burundi and Kenya have already sent troops.

Talks between the DRC and Rwanda in the Angolan capital Luanda unlocked a truce agreement on November 23.

Under the deal, the M23 was meant to lay down arms, then pull back from occupied territories. The rebels remained in their positions, however.