{"id":56883,"date":"2026-01-18T19:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T19:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/wazalendo-fighters-enter-uvira-after-m23-withdrawal\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T19:02:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T19:02:56","slug":"wazalendo-fighters-enter-uvira-after-m23-withdrawal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wazalendo-fighters-enter-uvira-after-m23-withdrawal\/","title":{"rendered":"Wazalendo fighters enter Uvira after M23 withdrawal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents confirmed that Wazalendo fighters entered Uvira early Sunday morning, a day after AFC\/M23 announced that it had fully withdrawn from the city. Footage circulating on social media shows armed fighters roaming the streets, with reports of looting and abuse against civilians, acts for which the group has previously been accused.<\/p>\n

A former South Kivu official, now based in Kalemie, told the BBC that Wazalendo fighters had indeed returned to Uvira but said they were awaiting further instructions from their leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must proceed with extreme caution,\u201d he said. \u201cOur superiors are first verifying whether M23\u2019s claims are accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the presence of Wazalendo fighters in the city, AFC\/M23 said it had handed responsibility for Uvira\u2019s security to the international community and called for the protection of civilians.<\/p>\n

In a letter dated January 15, 2026, addressed to the UN Secretary-General, AFC\/M23 said it had for three days been urging the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) to deploy forces to protect Uvira\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

AFC\/M23 leader Corneille Nangaa said the group had decided to place Uvira \u201cunder the full responsibility of the international community.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explained that a small AFC\/M23 security unit had initially remained in the city to maintain oversight while awaiting the deployment of neutral forces, but that this unit also withdrew on January 15.<\/p>\n

The group warned the United Nations that the presence of Burundian troops, the FDLR armed group, Wazalendo militias, and foreign mercenaries posed a serious threat to civilians in Uvira.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir presence and activities not only endanger civilian lives but also undermine the ongoing peace process and regional stability,\u201d AFC\/M23 said.<\/p>\n

The group called for the urgent deployment of neutral international forces to prevent Uvira from returning to the suffering it experienced when it was previously controlled by Congolese government-aligned forces.<\/p>\n

AFC\/M23 captured Uvira on December 9, 2025, following a week-long battle in the Ruzizi Plain in South Kivu province. The group said it withdrew at the request of the United States to allow peace negotiations to continue.<\/p>\n

Washington had asked AFC\/M23 to redeploy to positions approximately 75 kilometres from Uvira, assuring the group that such a move would enable the international community to better protect civilians.<\/p>\n

During AFC\/M23\u2019s control of the city, residents reported a return to relative calm, with people resuming daily activities without widespread violence, theft, or looting.<\/p>\n

However, fears remain high following the group\u2019s withdrawal, with many residents concerned that those perceived as having supported AFC\/M23 could face reprisals.<\/p>\n

\"Wazalendo<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wazalendo militia fighters have moved into the city of Uvira in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo following the withdrawal of AFC\/M23 rebel forces, locals say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000100792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-56883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000100792,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/waz-2-f3a65-6a8bd.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/waz-2-f3a65-6a8bd.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/waz-2-f3a65-6a8bd.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/waz-2-f3a65-6a8bd.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/waz-2-f3a65-6a8bd.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/waz-2-f3a65-6a8bd.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000100792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56883"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=56883"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=56883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}