A two-week humanitarian truce began between Kinshasa and M23 rebels on Friday in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s war-scarred east.
The United States announced the truce on Thursday, a day before it was due to begin, and expressed hope for a permanent ceasefire. The truce has not yet been publicly mentioned by anyone in DR Congo.
Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of backing the Tutsi-led M23 rebel group which has seized swathes of eastern DR Congo in an ongoing offensive launched in 2021 — something Kigali denies.
“The situation is calm,” said an administrative official in the Masisi region, echoing residents of North Kivu province interviewed by AFP, particularly in the Lubero area, the scene of recent fighting.
“We pray to God that it stays that way,” the official added.
The truce began at midnight local time on July 5 and will continue through July 19, the White House National Security Council announced Thursday.
Supported by the Congolese and Rwandan governments, the truce envisages the voluntary return of displaced persons and unhindered access for humanitarian personnel to vulnerable populations, it said.
The United States previously announced a “ceasefire” in December.
It lasted about 10 days before fighting resumed after elections on December 20.
“The humanitarian situation in North Kivu is dire with close to three million displaced people in the province,” it said.
“The recent expansion of fighting in North Kivu has prevented humanitarian workers from reaching hundreds of thousands of IDPs in the area around Kanyabayonga and displaced more than 100,000 people from their homes,” it added.