KINSHASA (Reuters) – Democratic Republic of Congo’s army on Tuesday said it had taken back the eastern town of Kalembe a day after it was seized by M23 rebels.
Kalembe, a small town in Walikale territory in militia-plagued North Kivu, came under M23 control on Sunday morning when rebels seized it from Congolese armed forces and the Wazalendo alliance of pro-government armed groups.
The Tutsi-led M23 group has been waging an insurgency in the central African country’s east since 2022. Congo and the United Nations accuse neighbouring Rwanda of backing the group with its own troops and weapons. Rwanda denies this.
Congo army spokesman Sylvain Ekenge said Kalembe had been taken back on Monday.
He said via telephone on Tuesday that fighting between the Wazalendo and the M23 took place in areas that were not under army control.
Military troops were flown in on helicopters on Monday morning to deal with the situation, he said.
The M23 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An official from Walikale territory, Kabaki Alimasi, confirmed the army had taken the town back but said fighting continued nearby.
“The M23 are not far,” he said. “We can hear gunfire, the population that fled has not yet returned.”
The M23 insurgency in Congo’s mineral-rich east has deepened a humanitarian crisis in North Kivu, where around 2.6 million people were displaced as of end-September, according to the U.N. aid agency OCHA.
Negotiations between Congo and Rwanda are taking place in the Angolan capital Luanda as part of a long-running effort to curb the fighting.