KIGALI, Rwanda

The Democratic Republic of Congo government moved to reassure the country Friday that the “military will not surrender” following the capture of Uvira.

Justice Minister Guillaume Ngefa made the remarks days after the M23 rebels seized the key commercial hub in eastern South Kivu province near the border with Burundi, without resistance.

Meeting ambassadors and diplomats, Ngefa expressed his government’s disapproval of the latest escalation of violence.

He reaffirmed the government's determination to “defend the integrity of its territory, and promised that the strategic city of Uvira would be recaptured by the government forces.”

“Faced with this situation, the Congolese government has a clear and responsible position. First, we will not surrender. The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, supported by allied forces, are reorganizing and repositioning themselves to defend the integrity of the territory. The battle to liberate South Kivu is not over,” said Ngefa.

The intensification of fighting in several territories in South Kivu occurred days after President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, signed a peace and economic agreement to put an end to the fighting in eastern Congo.

Counter accusations have since ensued, with each side blaming the other of violating the ceasefire provided under a US-brokered peace deal.

Humanitarian situation worrying

The new clashes resulted in a major humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 200,000, according to the UN.

It also led to the deaths of more than 400 and dozens of injuries, said provincial authorities.

Nearly 100 wounded people were admitted from Dec. 2 to 11 to the Uvira General Referral Hospital, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Friday.

“The fact that the Uvira General Hospital has received so many wounded in such a short period of time shows how much violence is affecting civilians,” Djibril Mamadou Diallo, head of the ICRC office in Uvira, told Anadolu.

“We are very concerned about the fate of civilians caught up in the ongoing fighting in several areas of South Kivu province and about access to appropriate health care for all those who have been wounded. We are also concerned about the many families who are forced to flee to seek shelter and who are not yet receiving assistance, even though they were already very vulnerable,” he said.

The ICRC feared that other injured people may not have been able to access adequate care due to the fighting.

Diallo stressed that the humanitarian situation in the Uvira area remains worrying, characterized by massive displacement of populations as well as dysfunctional essential services.

Water and power distribution utilities are said to be affected, while health care remains inaccessible due to the security situation.

The ICRC urged warring parties to urgently redouble efforts to protect civilian populations and infrastructure essential to the survival of the affected communities.

It also encouraged the parties to facilitate access to health care for the wounded.

There is a need for parties to the conflict “to protect the medical mission and humanitarian actors, and to facilitate access to populations in need,” Diallo added.

To Ngefa, Uvira is not just a site on a map, but a vital port city on Lake Tanganyika, whose seizure is not a minor military setback.

Analysts said the capture of Uvira, which served as a temporary provincial headquarters, could pave the way for the AFC/M23 rebels to reach the Greater Katanga area, considered the economic heart of the country.

The rebels’ occupation of the city would also effectively disrupt a key supply route for arms and materials via Burundi to the government.

-Demonstrations planned

Demonstrations are expected in the coming days by government supporters to denounce the alleged Rwandan aggression and the occupation of the town of Uvira by the AFC/M23 rebels, according to officials.

The M23 resumed fighting in 2021, launching a lightning offensive that led to the capture of several territories, including the provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu.

The UN, Kinshasa and others accuse neighboring Rwanda of supporting the M23, which Kigali denies.