(Reuters) – Rwandan-backed M23 rebels were seen in the centre of eastern Congo’s second-largest city, Bukavu, on Sunday, said a local official, a security source and five eyewitnesses, as a spokesperson for the militia told Reuters: “we are there”.
The armed group had been advancing on the capital of South Kivu province since seizing the city of Goma in late January. The fall of Bukavu, if confirmed, would represent the most significant expansion of territory under the M23’s control since the latest insurgency started in 2022.
M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma said in a telephone message that the group was in the city.
The Congolese army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I’m at home, and I can see with my own eyes the M23 entering our town,” a local official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
(Reporting by Congo Newsroom and Sonia Rolley in Paris,; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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