Dec 5 (Reuters) – Fighting raged in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Congolese and Rwandan leaders in Washington to sign new deals aimed at ending years of conflict in a region rich in minerals.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame on Thursday reaffirmed commitments to a U.S.-brokered deal reached in June to stabilise the vast country and open the way for more Western mining investment.
“We’re settling a war that’s been going on for decades,” said Trump, whose administration has intervened in a string of conflicts around the world to burnish his credentials as a peacemaker and advance U.S. business interests.
FIERCE FIGHTING CONTINUES ON THE GROUND
On the ground, however, fierce fighting continued, with the warring sides blaming one another.
The Rwandan-backed AFC/M23 rebel group, which seized the two largest cities in eastern Congo this year and is not bound by the Washington agreement, said forces loyal to the government were conducting widespread attacks.
The M23 said bombs fired from Burundi for more than three days had struck villages in North and South Kivu, killing women and children, wounding civilians and destroying homes, schools and health centres. It accused Burundi, an ally of Congo, of coordinating airstrikes using drones and heavy artillery.
A spokesperson for Burundi could not be immediately reached for comment.
Meanwhile, Congo’s army said it was not targeting civilians but that clashes were continuing and Rwandan forces were carrying out strikes.
It said it had neutralised an enemy drone that entered Congolese airspace from Bugarama in Rwanda, and accused M23 fighters of repeatedly violating a ceasefire.
M23 said 23 people had been killed and several others injured while a Congolese army spokesperson said 11 civilians had been killed during fighting.
Analysts say U.S. diplomacy paused an escalation of fighting in eastern Congo but failed to resolve core issues, with neither Congo nor Rwanda fulfilling pledges made in June.
Videos shared online showed dozens of displaced families fleeing on foot with their belongings and livestock near the town of Luvungi in eastern Congo. Reuters was not immediately able to authenticate them.
CIVILIANS CAUGHT UP IN CONFLICT
“Numerous homes have been destroyed, and women as well as children have tragically lost their lives,” wrote Lawrence Kanyuka, spokesperson for AFC/M23.
Forces loyal to the Congolese government “continued their relentless attacks on densely populated areas of North Kivu and South Kivu, using fighter jets, drones and heavy artillery”, he wrote on X.
A Congo army spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that clashes were taking place along the Kaziba-Katogota-Rurambo axis in South Kivu province.
Reagan Mbuyi Kalonji, army spokesperson for South Kivu, said the Congolese army had only targeted fighters in the hills above Kaziba and Rurambo.
“There is population displacement in Luvungi due to Rwandan Defence Force bombardment. They are bombing blindly,” he said.
Rwanda’s army and government could not immediately be reached for comment.
A senior AFC/M23 official said rebel forces had retaken the town of Luberika and shot down a Congolese army drone. Requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to media, he said the war was continuing, irrespective of the agreement signed in Washington.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that, since December 2, intense fighting has resulted in civilian deaths, injuries and displacement.
Clashes and roadblocks have made evacuations impossible, preventing an unknown number of wounded civilians from reaching medical facilities for treatment, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
The U.N. children’s agency UNICEF on Friday said it was alarmed by clashes on December 3 and 4 in South Kivu that hit three schools and another site near a school, reportedly killing at least seven children and injuring others.
“In 2025, fighting has intensified to levels not seen in years, and children, as always, are bearing the brunt,” its statement said, urging a halt to attacks on education facilities.
(Reporting by Congo Newsroom; Writing by Bate Felix and Ayen Deng Bior; Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Kevin Liffey)
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