KINSHASA – In a strong move, the U.N. Security Council has called on Rwanda to withdraw its military presence from eastern Congo and has extended the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, for another year, amid escalating conflicts in the region despite a U.S.-brokered peace accord.

On Friday, the Security Council, the U.N.’s most authoritative body, condemned the offensive launched by the M23 rebels, who are supported by Rwanda. The council demanded that Rwanda cease its support of these forces and pull back its troops. In a unanimously passed resolution, the council also renewed the peacekeepers’ mission, maintaining approximately 11,500 military personnel in Congo.

This resolution was issued as M23 announced on Wednesday their withdrawal from Uvira, a key city in eastern Congo they had captured the previous week, purportedly due to U.S. pressure. However, Congolese authorities have labeled this withdrawal as “staged,” asserting that the rebels remain in the city.

Jennifer Locetta, the U.S. deputy ambassador, addressed the Security Council on Friday, insisting that M23 should retreat at least 75 kilometers (47 miles) from Uvira immediately.

The M23’s seizure of the city last week came in the wake of a deadly offensive, despite a peace deal mediated by the U.S. and signed earlier this month in Washington by the leaders of Congo and Rwanda.

The accord didn’t include the rebel group, which is negotiating separately with Congo and agreed earlier this year to a ceasefire that both sides accuse the other of violating. However, the accord obliges Rwanda to halt support for armed groups like M23 and work to end hostilities.

Congo, the U.S. and U.N. experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which has grown from hundreds of members in 2021 to around 6,500 fighters, according to the U.N.

More than 100 armed groups are vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo, near the border with Rwanda, most prominently M23. The conflict has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises, with more than 7 million people displaced, according to the U.N. agency for refugees.

The MONUSCO force arrived in Congo in 2010, after taking over from an earlier U.N. peacekeeping mission to protect civilians and humanitarian personnel and to support the Congolese government in its stabilization and peace consolidation efforts.

However, frustrated Congolese have said that no one is protecting them from rebel attacks, leading to protests against the U.N. mission and others that have at times turned deadly.

In 2023, at Congo’s request, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to draw down the peacekeeping force and gradually hand over its security responsibilities to Congo’s government.

——

Lederer reported from the United Nations. Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal.