8/12/2025 DRC (International Christian Concern) — With less than a week remaining before the deadline for a finalized peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, human rights watchdogs remain concerned about heightened levels of violence in northern DRC.

According to analysts and local sources, violence on the ground has continued in recent weeks despite much-vaunted diplomatic agreements between the DRC, Rwanda, and M23.

Last week, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, reported that 319 civilians were killed in a series of attacks between July 9 and July 21. The timing of the attacks — occurring in the days leading up to and following the signing of an initial peace agreement on July 19 — suggests that the path to a final accord will be a difficult one.

The initial agreement signed on July 19 set an August 17 deadline for a final deal.

According to Qatari officials who helped mediate the July agreement, a key element includes the restoration of government rule in all parts of the country, including two major cities captured earlier this year by the rebels. While the DRC echoed this interpretation, stating that the agreement includes the complete withdrawal of rebel forces, M23 leaders have publicly disagreed and declared their intention to remain in captured territory.

“We are in Goma with the population,” one M23 spokesman told the Associated Press in reference to one of the cities captured this year from government forces, “and we are not going to get out.”

Another M23 leader took a more nuanced approach, saying that the Declaration empowered the DRC’s government to resume its responsibilities across the country but fell short of mandating that M23 conduct a complete withdrawal.

Though M23 receives backing from Rwanda, its fighters are primarily Congolese. Even if M23 were to dismantle its operations and relinquish control of the parallel administrations currently governing several areas of eastern DRC, it is far from the only militant group operating in the region. Without a robust force to fill the void, its withdrawal would likely create a dangerous power vacuum.

M23 itself emerged from a failed peace deal forged some 16 years ago that was never fully implemented.
Roughly 120 distinct militant groups are active in the DRC, each with its own leadership, supply lines, and motivations. Among them is the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a jihadist militia aligned with the Islamic State group and known for its brutality and hostility toward Christianity, the majority religion in the country.

Highlighting the continued risk to civilians, a church attack in the small eastern town of Komanda in late July led to the slaughter of more than 50 Christians. Militants affiliated with the terrorist group ADF are credited with the attack, which took place as local Christians gathered for a nighttime prayer vigil. Shops and homes in the area were attacked as well. The attackers had all left by the time security forces arrived and took at least twenty child hostages, according to sources.

The approaching Aug. 17 deadline offers a narrow window for hope, but the realities on the ground paint a far bleaker picture. Continued violence, the unwillingness of M23 to fully withdraw from captured territories, and the presence of more than 100 other armed groups underscore the fragility of any potential accord.

Without decisive action to ensure the safety of civilians, restore government authority, and address the complex network of militias fueling instability, the DRC risks repeating the cycle of broken promises and renewed bloodshed that has defined past peace efforts.

For the people of eastern Congo — especially vulnerable Christian communities — the coming days could determine whether the region moves toward peace or plunges deeper into conflict.

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