Name: M23 offensive near Burundi border spark new humanitarian crisis
Uploaded: 2025-12-11T19:43:43.872Z
Duration: 1 min 49 s
Description: Civilians flee the city of Uvira in Democratic Republic of Congo as Rwandan-backed M23 fighters move in.

Civilians flee the city of Uvira in Democratic Republic of Congo as Rwandan-backed M23 fighters move in.

Gitega

An advance by M23 fighters on the city of Avira, near the Burundi border, has forced residents to flee, with many escaping by boat across Lake Tanganyika. The government of Burundi views the potential fall of Avira to M23, which UN experts say is supported by Rwandan troops, as an existential threat.

Despite a peace agreement signed between the presidents of Congo and Rwanda, brokered by Donald Trump, fighting has continued. The government in Kinshasa fears further M23 advances into resource-rich regions, while Burundi has described the capture of Avira as an act of defiance against the United States.

M23 offensive near Burundi border spark new humanitarian crisis

The safest way out of Avira was by boat on Wednesday as M23 fighters advanced on the city. A few kilometres on the other side of Lake Tanganyika is Burundi. The government there views the prospect of Avira falling to Rwanda-backed forces as an existential threat. People scattered through the streets of Avira as news spread of the approach of M23 fighters. UN experts say the M23 is supported by 7,000 Rwandan troops in the east of the DRC. Rwanda denies backing the M23. It does argue it faces an existential threat from ethnic Hutu fighters across the Congolese border. They're linked to the Rwandan genocide of the Tutsis. As the sound of gunfire got closer, Avira's streets emptied. By Thursday morning, M23 tanks had appeared. The government in Kinshasa fears the M23 might push further south and east to the copper and cobalt-rich Katanga province. Just a week ago, Congo's President Felix Tshisekeda and Rwanda's Paul Kagame signed a deal brokered by Donald Trump that was supposed to halt the fighting. I think it's going to be a great miracle. These two gentlemen are leaders, they're great leaders, and they're going to prove that in the coming months and years. And I think you're going to see very immediate results. I have confidence that that's what's going to happen. Instead, the government in Burundi is describing the capture of Avira as defiance and contempt for the United States. Bernard Smith, Al Jazeera.

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