DRC crisis: Rebels reach ceasefire deal with departing African peacekeepers

29 March 2025

The rebels and troops from the Southern African bloc said that they would work together to rebuild the airport in Goma so that the troops could depart the country.

DRC crisis: Rebels reach ceasefire deal with departing African peacekeepers

The M23 rebels in control of key areas of eastern Congo agreed Friday to a ceasefire with African coalition peacekeepers who have announced their withdrawal even as the conflict between the insurgents and Congo 's government continues.

The rebels and troops from the South African Development Community, or SADC, said in a joint news release that they would work together to rebuild the airport in the eastern hub of Goma, which was damaged when rebels took over, so that the SADC troops could depart the country in an orderly way.

The force of several thousand peacekeeping troops from South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania had been sent to eastern Congo by the SADC in 2023 to help the Congolese government pacify a mineral-rich region plagued by various insurgencies.

The troops failed to stop the lightning assaults starting in January by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels that have claimed several key cities and that left several peacekeepers dead, eroding support for the mission in the donor countries. The SADC leadership announced their withdrawal earlier this month.

Withdrawal timetable

The rebels and SADC troops gave no timetable for the withdrawal under their accord.

The SADC troops "will be leaving via Goma airport, but it has to be repaired before they can leave,” M23 spokesman Lawrence Kanyuka said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Kanyuka called it a “historic day," and said that the agreement with the SADC mission reflected an awareness that the conflict must be resolved politically not through fighting.

“We thank SADC today for understanding that there is no military solution to this conflict. They came today, and we talked about dialogue,” Kanyuka said, adding that their withdrawal was “one of the prerequisites” for dialogue.

Ceasefire negotiations

Kanyuka accused Congolese troops of violating ongoing ceasefire negotiations and said that M23 had requested that the SADC “talk to Kinshasa to get them to stop and adhere to this ceasefire, which we have respected until now.”