Nearly 40 members of the M23 rebel group have surrendered to the Congolese army in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), military officials confirmed on Monday.
The fighters, who laid down their arms in North Kivu, Kalehe, and South Kivu provinces, included two senior officers. Authorities said several among them were civilians, soldiers, and police officers who had been abducted and forcibly recruited when M23 captured the cities of Goma and Bukavu earlier this year.
An army commander welcomed the development and urged other M23 members to follow suit, describing the surrender as a positive step toward restoring peace in the volatile region.
The move comes just a week after the DRC government and M23 reached an agreement to establish an oversight body for a potential permanent ceasefire. The deal, mediated by Qatar and signed in Doha, builds on a July declaration aimed at reasserting state authority in eastern Congo.
The Rwanda-backed M23 remains one of the most powerful of more than 100 armed groups fighting for control of the mineral-rich region. The conflict has displaced over 7 million people, with the United Nations describing it as “one of the most protracted, complex, and severe humanitarian crises on Earth.”
