The United States has accused Rwanda of violating a recent US-mediated peace agreement by backing a renewed M23 rebel offensive in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and warned it will act against actors who undermine the deal. US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said he was deeply concerned by the surge in violence linked to M23 and said Washington would use available measures to hold “spoilers” to account.
Waltz told the UN Security Council that Rwanda’s actions were driving the region toward greater instability and urged Kigali to respect Congo’s sovereignty, to stop supporting armed groups and to allow allied Burundian forces to assist Congolese troops. The US said it was engaging regional partners to urge restraint and prevent further escalation.
The offensive accelerated even after a Washington-brokered accord signed last week by the Congolese and Rwandan presidents. That deal—reached without M23’s participation—asked Rwanda to halt support for armed groups including M23 and to work to end hostilities. M23 has been negotiating separately with Kinshasa after an earlier ceasefire both sides say the other violated.
Congolese authorities confirmed that M23 fighters seized the strategic port city of Uvira on Lake Tanganyika’s northern shore, opposite Burundi’s largest city, Bujumbura. Uvira was the government’s last major stronghold in South Kivu after rebels took Bukavu in February; its capture helps M23 consolidate a broad corridor across eastern DRC. Regional officials report roughly 200,000 people displaced and more than 400 civilians killed since the offensive intensified, and there are reports of shells landing in Rugombo inside Burundi, fuelling fears of cross-border spillover.
Eastern Congo, rich in minerals, is home to more than 100 armed groups; M23 is the most prominent. The fighting has deepened a humanitarian crisis: UN agency data indicate over 7 million people displaced across the wider region. UN, US and Congolese experts have accused Rwanda of backing M23; the UN estimates the group has grown to about 6,500 fighters since 2021.
Waltz alleged that Rwandan forces provided logistics, training and were fighting alongside M23, and he cited international assessments that there were roughly 5,000–7,000 Rwandan troops in eastern Congo as of early December. Congo’s foreign minister, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, told the Security Council Rwanda had breached the peace pact and urged sanctions on military and political leaders, a ban on Rwandan mineral exports and a prohibition on Rwanda contributing troops to UN peacekeeping missions—a significant proposal given Kigali currently supplies nearly 6,000 UN peacekeepers.
Washington’s concerns are not only security-related: eastern Congo’s critical minerals have become strategically important as the US seeks alternatives to Chinese sources of rare earths used in military and civilian technologies.