Congo War Security Review

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Key Takeaway: M23 captured a village in the Lubero district to the west of the district capital, Lubero town, in another potential flanking effort. M23 entered Mwenga district in central South Kivu and made significant advances toward the district capital after capturing several villages along the RN2 road. The international community levied more financial sanctions against Rwanda for Rwandan support for M23 and Rwandan troop deployments in the eastern DRC. The DRC imposed taxes on goods produced in M23-occupied areas.

Northern Axis: Lubero-Butembo-Beni-Bunia

M23 captured Kasugho village, about 28 miles west of the Lubero district capital in northern North Kivu, after clashing with the Congolese army (FARDC) and pro-Congolese government militia fighters on March 2.[1] M23’s capture of Kasugho is its western-most settlement seizure in the northern Lubero district. Locals reported that M23 initially advanced 9 miles west from its positions on the RN2 road in Alimbongo to Bingi town and then moved north from Bingi to Kasugho through a forested route.[2] One resident told Congolese media outlet Actualite.cd that M23 is flanking FARDC positions in Lubero town to reach the commercial hub of Butembo via Kasugho and Kimbulu, a village 17 miles south of Butembo on the RN2.[3] M23 has already tried to flank Lubero town to the east since late February.[4] Another resident said that Ugandan army roadblocks on the Kasugho-Lubero axis would block an M23 flanking maneuver and that M23 likely captured the Kasugho area to extract and transport minerals from Bunyatenge, a remote gold mining village to the west of Bingi.[5]

Southern Axis: Bukavu-Uvira-Baraka-Kalemie

The Vatican news agency Agenzia Fides reported on March 4 that pro-Congolese government militias control Katogota village and the nearby bridge over the Luvinvi River to M23-controlled Kamanyola.[6] Burundian soldiers (FDNB) and allied militias advanced north to Luvungi town—located 12 miles south of Kamanyola via the RN5—on February 23.[7]  

Southwest Axis: Bukavu-Kamituga-Shabunda-Kindu

M23 continued to advance against pro-Congolese militias along the RN2 toward the district capital of Mwenga in central South Kivu. M23 captured several villages along the RN2 road as it advanced 19 miles southwest from the Walungu district across the Kadubo River into the Mwenga district and reached Kalama, located 22 miles north of Mwenga town, on March 3.[8] M23 captured Bwahungu village in the Walungu district on March 1 after advancing 14 miles southwest on the RN2 from Walungu town.[9]

Northwest Axis: Masisi-Walikale-Lubutu-Kisangani

Nothing significant to report.

Major Political Developments

The international community levied more financial sanctions against Rwanda for Rwandan support for M23 and Rwandan troop deployments in the eastern DRC. Canada suspended commercial ties with Rwanda by halting new private and public sector ventures with Rwanda and suspending export permits for "controlled goods and technologies to Rwanda” on March 3.[10] Germany’s Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development announced on social media that it will suspend “new financial commitments” to Rwanda and is “reviewing ongoing bilateral cooperation.”[11] The London-based tabloid Daily Mail reported that the English soccer club Arsenal F.C. is considering not renewing its sponsorship deal with Rwanda’s tourism agency, “Visit Rwanda,” when the deal expires in the summer of 2025.[12] The DRC government has been lobbying Arsenal F.C. and several other major European soccer clubs to drop its deal with Rwanda since M23 seized the North Kivu provincial capital of Goma in late January.[13]

The DRC imposed taxes on goods produced in M23-occupied areas. The DRC’s customs regulations office announced that all goods and merchandise from the M23-held trading hubs of Goma, Bunagana, and Ishasha will now “be treated as a new import.”[14] Uganda suspended the passage of its exports to the eastern DRC via M23-occupied trading towns on the Ugandan-DRC border to comply with the DRC’s new measures.[15] The new taxes and trade restrictions add to the financial challenges that Goma has faced since M23 captured the town, such as cash shortages, rising prices, and severely limited public services.[16]