Clashes continue in eastern Congo

10/3/2025 6:28

Fighting between M23 rebels and

pro-Congo militias was underway on Sunday in Nyabiondo, about

100 km (62 miles) north of Goma in eastern Congo, residents

said, days after a nearby attack left a heavy civilian death

toll, according to the United Nations and an NGO.



The Rwanda-backed rebel group M23 has seized swathes of

mineral-rich eastern Congo since the start of the year.



"M23 has taken Nyabiondo since 11 a.m. (0900 GMT), following

clashes," Kipanda Biiri, an official from the local

administrative authority who was fleeing the area, told Reuters.



"The enemy opened a large-scale assault on Nyabiondo this

morning," said Telesphore Mitondeke, a civil society rapporteur

in Masisi, the area where Nyabiondo is located, referring to M23

rebels.



"For the moment there is shooting from every direction in

the centre of Nyabiondo, where the clashes are taking place."



The fighting follows clashes last week between M23 and a

pro-Congolese government militia in the village of Tambi, about

18 km northeast of the town of Masisi, which culminated in an

attack overnight on March 5 leaving many civilian casualties,

according to the head of a local NGO.



An internal United Nations memo seen by Reuters on Sunday

said between 40 and 70 civilians were believed to have been

killed in that attack.



Separately on Sunday, a spokesperson for the rebel alliance

that includes M23 said on X that one of the pro-government

militias that operates in eastern Congo had switched sides and

joined its alliance.



The spokesperson for the group that militia had been a part

of said in a statement that the rest of the group remained loyal

to the Congolese government and its army.



M23 rebels say that they intend to seize power in Congo's

capital Kinshasa. They also accuse Congo's government of not

living up to previous peace deals and fully integrating

Congolese Tutsis into the army and administration.



The group's spread into new mineral-rich territories this

year also gives it scope to acquire more mining revenue,

analysts say.



In Washington, the State Department said in a statement to

Reuters on Sunday that the United States was open to exploring

critical minerals partnerships with Congo, after a Congolese

senator contacted U.S. officials to pitch a

minerals-for-security deal.



Congo is rich in cobalt, lithium and uranium among other

minerals.