M23 to pull out of Uvira 'at Washington's request'

The M23 armed group said on Tuesday it would withdraw from the key city of Uvira in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo at the request of Washington, which vowed "action" over the "clear violation" of a US-brokered peace accord.

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Congolese protesters march in support for the M23 in Uvira, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, in South Kivu province, on Tuesday.

(REUTERS)

The Rwanda-backed militia seized the strategic city near the border with Burundi last Wednesday, days after the Congolese and Rwandan governments signed the peace deal in Washington — an agreement US President Donald Trump had hailed as a “great miracle”.

The M23’s advance has thrown the future of the peace process into doubt and raised fears of a wider regional war.

Its capture of Uvira — a city of several hundred thousand people — allowed it to control the land border with Burundi and cut the DRC off from military support from its neighbour.