M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo entered the region’s second-largest city of Bukavu on Friday, local and civil society leaders said, the latest ground gained since a major escalation of their yearslong fighting with government forces.
The M23 rebels entered the city’s Kazingu and Bagira zone and were advancing toward the center of the city of about 1.3 million people, according to Jean Samy, vice president of the civil society in South Kivu. He reported gunfire in parts of the city.
Videos posted online appeared to show rebels marching toward the Bagira area. In one of the videos, a voice in the background shouted: “They are there … there are many of them.”
Hours earlier, the rebels had claimed to have seized a second airport in the region following a dayslong advance, while the U.N. warned that the recent escalation of fighting with government forces has left 350,000 internally displaced people without shelter.
Local sources said M23 rebels surrounded the area around Kavumu national airport. They also recounted seeing scores of soldiers fleeing the town as the fighting raged on.
The Associated Press could not immediately confirm who was in control of the airport, which is located about 30 kilometers from the city of Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province. Government officials and civil society leaders did not immediately comment.
Kavumu airport became a target after the M23 rebels seized the region’s largest city of Goma, including the international airport there, in late January. Goma is a critical trade and humanitarian hub that hosted many of the close to 6.5 million people displaced in the conflict, the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said on social media platform 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.
Congo’s Communication Ministry issued a statement criticizing the rebels for violating a ceasefire that regional leaders have called for. The rebels were “imposing an urban war by attacking the positions of the FARDC [Congolese military], who are keen to avoid bloodshed in Bukavu,” the ministry said.
The crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, or the DRC, continues to escalate, with tensions involving the Congolese government and the M23 rebel group. The DRC government has officially designated the M23 rebel group as a terrorist organization, while the United Nations and the United States classify it as an armed rebel group.
The DRC government has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group, a claim that Rwanda denies. Kigali, in turn, alleges that Kinshasa collaborates with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or the FDLR, a Hutu armed group with ties to the perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, an allegation the DRC rejects.
Military operations in the region remain fluid, with clashes leading to significant displacement and humanitarian concerns. Analysts warn that continued instability risks deepening the regional conflict. Several peacekeepers from the Southern African Development Community already have been killed since the recent rebel offensive.