Military officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have confirmed that nearly 40 fighters from the M23 rebel group have laid down their weapons in the country’s restive east.
According to the army, the individuals who surrendered included civilians, police officers, and soldiers who had been abducted and forcibly recruited by M23 when the rebel group captured Goma and Bukavu earlier this year. The group turned themselves in across North Kivu, Kalehe, and South Kivu provinces, among them two ranking officers.
An army commander overseeing the surrender urged other M23 members to abandon the insurgency and reintegrate into civilian life.
The move comes shortly after Kinshasa and M23 agreed to establish an oversight committee for a potential permanent ceasefire, following mediation by Qatar in Doha last week. This latest accord builds on a July declaration of principles aimed at restoring government authority in eastern Congo.
The Rwanda-backed M23 remains the most powerful of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of the DRC’s mineral-rich eastern region, which has been plagued by conflict for decades.
The ongoing violence has displaced over 7 million people, prompting the United Nations to describe the situation as “one of the most complex and severe humanitarian crises in the world.”
