GOMA: The M23 armed group said that 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. The group 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.
Leader of the M23's political branch Corneille Nangaa announced in a statement that the group would "unilaterally withdraw its forces from the city of Uvira, as requested by the US mediators". The group called for "adequate measures" to be put in place to manage the city, including "demilitarisation, protecting its population and infrastructure and monitoring the ceasefire with a neutral force". — AFP
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