Fighting between M23 rebels and pro-Congo militias erupted again on Sunday in Nyabiondo, located about 100 km north of Goma in eastern Congo. This comes just days after a deadly assault on civilians in a nearby village, which resulted in significant casualties, according to reports from the United Nations and an NGO.
Since the beginning of the year, the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group has captured large parts of eastern Congo, a region rich in valuable minerals.
“M23 took control of Nyabiondo at around 11 AM (0900 GMT) after heavy clashes,” said Kipanda Biiri, a local government official fleeing the area, speaking to Reuters.
Telesphore Mitondeke, a civil society representative from Masisi, where Nyabiondo is located, described the attack: “The enemy launched a large-scale offensive on Nyabiondo this morning, and there’s gunfire coming from all directions in the town’s center as the fighting continues.”
The violence follows an earlier clash between M23 forces and a pro-Congo militia in the village of Tambi, situated 18 km northeast of Masisi. That confrontation culminated in a deadly attack on March 5, resulting in numerous civilian deaths, according to a local NGO leader.
A UN memo seen by Reuters on Sunday estimated that between 13 and 40 civilians were killed in that attack.
In a separate development, the spokesperson for the M23-led rebel alliance announced on X that a militia previously loyal to the Congolese government had defected to their cause. However, another spokesman for the militia’s former group confirmed the rest of the militia remained loyal to the Congolese government.
M23 rebels have expressed ambitions to capture the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, accusing the government of failing to implement previous peace agreements and integrate Congolese Tutsis into the army and administration.
This year’s expansion into more mineral-rich territories has also provided the group with opportunities to increase its mining revenues, according to analysts.