Roughly 200,000 people have fled the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as fighting there has escalated in recent days, according to U.N. estimates.

The M23 rebel group claims to have seized the strategic border city of Uvira, defeating a coalition force of Congolese and Burundian soldiers and sparking the latest surge of displacement.

The militant offensive follows recent high-profile peace summits between the DRC, M23, and neighboring Rwanda, which supports M23.

Complicating negotiations, M23 has made significant territorial gains this year. It is operating a parallel government in areas it controls, recruiting and training civilian leaders in its ideology, and collecting taxes from mining operations in those areas.

Rwanda has long supported M23, leveraging the group as a proxy to destabilize the DRC despite mounting international calls for peace. In recent months, U.S. President Donald Trump has hosted the presidents of Rwanda and the DRC in Washington, D.C., on multiple occasions to sign peace agreements.

Despite these agreements, reports indicate that Rwanda has continued to support M23. Burundian Foreign Minister Edouard Bizimana told the media this week that truckloads of soldiers had come from Rwanda to support M23 in its operations around Uvira.

While it receives significant support from Rwanda, M23 has indicated that it would not comply with any peace agreement signed by its benefactor.

Speaking after the DRC and M23 signed an agreement in November, M23 leaders indicated that even a direct peace agreement may not be enough to end the bloodshed.

“There will be neither any change in the situation on the ground, nor any activity whatsoever,” the head of the M23 delegation said after the November meeting, “until the measures are debated, negotiated and discussed one by one and a final peace agreement is reached.”

Even if M23 were to dismantle its operations and relinquish control of the parallel administrations currently governing several areas of eastern DRC, it is just one of about 120 militant groups operating in the region. Without a robust force to fill the void, its withdrawal would likely create a dangerous power vacuum.

About 8 million people are currently displaced in eastern DRC. At the same time, 28 million face urgent food insecurity, according to the U.N. Violence has surged in 2025, largely due to an M23 offensive and attacks by other groups, including the Islamic State-aligned Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

In late July, ADF fighters attacked a Christian church in Ituri Province, killing at least 40 worshipers and burning numerous shops, homes, and vehicles. Thirteen children were killed in that attack alone.

A week-long attack stretching from Aug. 9 to Aug. 16 in North Kivu Province led to the deaths of at least 52 civilians. The attack was attributed to ADF, which also conducted “abductions, looting, and the burning of homes, vehicles, and motorcycles, as well as the destruction of property belonging to the population already facing dire humanitarian conditions,” according to the U.N. mission in the DRC.

The U.N. recorded 33 attacks on healthcare workers and facilities in the first six months of 2025, nearly triple the number of attacks as compared to the last half of 2024.

According to Human Rights Watch, M23 “summarily executed over 140 civilians” in July, possibly on ethnic grounds. An Amnesty report, published in August, detailed a widespread pattern of brutality in M23 actions, including gang rape, torture, and extrajudicial executions.

The U.N. has described the situation in the DRC as “one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth.”
Given the number of other militant groups, it is unclear what would happen if the M23 dismantled its operations and relinquished control of the parallel administrations currently governing several areas of eastern DRC. Without a robust force to fill the void, its withdrawal would likely create a dangerous power vacuum.

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.

Soberingly, M23 itself emerged from a failed peace deal, forged some 16 years ago, that was never fully implemented.
While the international community is coming to recognize the extreme danger posed by terrorism in the area, it does not seem to fully appreciate the element of religious extremism within these organizations. In searching for long-term solutions to terrorism in the country, it is important that the world address not just the economic roots of the insurgency but the ideological ones as well.

Whether through targeted information campaigns on the ground or specific efforts to protect religious communities in the DRC, it is vital that the world recognizes the persecution happening and addresses it accordingly. Only then can a workable solution be reached.

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