M23 rebel troops arrive at the Rusizi border post, joining the Congolese city of Bukavu with Cyangugu in Rwanda, on February 16, 2025, in Cyangugu, Rwanda.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Rwanda-backed rebels reached the centre of east Congo’s second-largest city, Bukavu, on Sunday (February 16, 2025) morning and took control of the South Kivu province administrative office after little resistance from government forces, many of whom fled the rebels’ advance.

Associated Press journalists witnessed scores of residents cheering on the M23 rebels in central Bukavu on Sunday (February 16, 2025) morning as they walked and drove around the city centre after a days-long march from the region’s major city of Goma 63 miles (101 km) away, which they captured late last month.

Several parts of the city, however, remained deserted with residents indoors.

“The M23 rebels are the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of Congo’s mineral-rich east and are supported by some 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda,” according to the U.N.

It was not clear if the rebels had taken decisive control of the city of about 1.3 million people. Their presence in central Bukavu is an unprecedented expansion of the rebels’ reach in their yearslong fighting with Congolese forces.

Unlike in 2012 when they only seized Goma in the fighting connected to ethnic tension, analysts have said the rebels this time are eyeing political power.

Many Congolese soldiers were seen on Saturday (February 15, 2025) fleeing the rebels’ advance into Bukavu alongside thousands of civilians amid widespread looting and panic.

Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi held a security meeting in the faraway capital of Kinshasa, where officials noted that Bukavu was “briefly” invaded by M23 but remains under the control of the Congolese army and allies from local militia, the presidency said on X. There were no signs of fighting or of Congolese forces in most parts of Bukavu on Sunday, February 16, 2025.

Mr. Tshisekedi has warned of the risk of a regional expansion of the conflict. Congo’s forces are being supported in Bukavu by troops from Burundi and in Goma by troops from South Africa.

Burundi’s president, Evariste Ndayishimiye, appeared to suggest his country will not retaliate in the fighting. In a post on X he said that “those people who were ready to get profit of the armed attack of Rwanda to Burundi will not see this.”

The Congo River Alliance, a coalition of rebel groups that includes M23, said it was committed to “defending the people of Bukavu” in a Saturday (February 15, 2025) statement that did not acknowledge their presence in the city.

“We call on the population to remain in control of their city and not give in to panic,” Lawrence Kanyuka, the alliance’s spokesperson, said in a statement.

The fighting in Congo has connections with a decadeslong ethnic conflict

M23 says it is defending ethnic Tutsis in Congo. Rwanda has claimed the Tutsis are being persecuted by Hutus and former militias responsible for the 1994 genocide of 800,000 Tutsis and others in Rwanda. Many Hutus fled to Congo after the genocide and founded the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda militia group. Rwanda says the group is “fully integrated” into the Congolese military, which denies the charges.

M23 rebels escort government soldiers and police who surrendered to an undisclosed location in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo on January 30, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

Residents and business owners in eastern Congo’s second-largest city sat in wait on Saturday (February 15, 2025) morning after a night of loud gunfire marking the ongoing advance of Rwanda-backed rebels.

Families remained indoors and shops remained closed as M23 fighters entered the outskirts of Bukavu — a city of about 1.3 million people that lies 101 km south of Goma, the region’s largest city taken by the rebels last month.

The group, backed by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of Congo’s mineral-rich east. Its southward expansion encompasses more territory than rebels had previously seized and poses an unprecedented challenge to the central government’s authority.

The rebellion has killed at least 2,000 people in and around Goma and left hundreds of thousands of displaced stranded, the U.N. and Congolese authorities have said.

The rebels on Friday (February 14, 2025) also claimed to have seized a second airport in the region, in the town of Kavumu outside Bukavu. The U.N. warned that the recent escalation of fighting with government forces has left 350,000 internally displaced people without shelter.

The Associated Press could not immediately confirm who was in control of the strategically important airport, which Congolese forces have used to resupply troops and humanitarian groups used to import aid.

Government officials and local civil society leaders did not immediately comment, though Congo’s Communications Ministry said the rebels had violated ceasefire agreements and attacked Congolese troops working to avoid urban warfare and violence in Bukavu.

M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said on X that the rebels took over Kavumu airport and its surroundings to “eliminate the threat at the source.”

“The airport posed a danger to the civilian population,” he said.

A local civil society leader in Kavumu reported seeing soldiers “abandon their positions and head towards Bukavu” — a repeat of events that transpired last month in the lead-up to the M23’s capture of Goma. Congo’s military, despite its size and funding, has long been hindered by shortcomings in training and coordination and recurring reports of corruption.

International leaders are expected to discuss the conflict at the African Union summit in Ethiopia this weekend as Congo’s President Félix Tshisekedi continues to plead with the international community to intervene to contain the rebels from advancing. However, little progress has been made since the government dismissed a ceasefire that M23 declared last week unilaterally as false.

Meanwhile, in South Kivu province, residents fled Bukavu into neighboring towns and stocked up on household supplies in anticipation of further bloodshed in the streets. The U.N. refugee agency has said that shelling and looting have already destroyed 70,000 emergency shelters, leaving those displaced with few places to go.

“I noticed that the soldiers were dropping out and fleeing, so I told myself that I could no longer stay in this place,” said Chirimwami Alexis, among residents fleeing from Kavumu. “The fear we have is people moving without any preparation or food. We are running away just because of this situation.”