Red Cross workers gather the remains of a dead person in east Congo’s second-largest city, Bukavu, one day after it was taken by M23 rebels, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. (Janvier Barhahiga/AP)
KAMPALA, Uganda — Ugandan troops have entered the eastern Congolese city of Bunia to help local forces stop deadly violence by armed groups, a military spokesman said Tuesday.
A meeting on Monday between Ugandan forces and Congolese troops in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, agreed on a joint deployment in the city, said Maj. Gen. Felix Kulayigye, spokesman for the Ugandan military.
Ugandan forces now control Bunia together with Congolese forces, he said, asserting that the action was provoked by crimes, including killings, along ethnic lines by armed groups.
He did not provide specific details, but Bunia and other nearby areas have long been the scene of violent conflict between the Lendu farming community and the Hema pastoralists. Ugandan military commander Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba last week threatened to capture Bunia because of allegations the Hema faced attacks.
Bunia is located about 25 miles from Congo’s border with Uganda.
Ugandan forces have been deployed to Ituri since 2021 under an agreement with Congo’s government. The Ugandans are hunting down members of other rebel groups that include the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, which has ties with the Islamic State group. Confrontations between Ugandan troops and the ADF have been reported in remote mountainous parts of Ituri and parts of neighboring North Kivu, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebellion reemerged in 2021.
There is concern that Uganda’s escalation of its military presence in eastern Congo could raise fears of a widening conflict in a large and often lawless part of the central African nation.
Other belligerent forces could get involved
The M23 rebellion has left a security gap on the Congolese side of the border with Uganda, which wants protection “against other militant groups that might seek to exploit (Congo’s) war with M23 and mount attacks,” according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.
It said “there is a low likelihood that Uganda will involve itself in the (M23) conflict as a belligerent, as it intends to maintain a largely defensive position to secure its borders.”
But some analysts in the region fear a repeat of the 1990s conflict in which Congo’s then-leader, Laurent-Desire Kabila, invited armies from countries such as Angola and Zimbabwe to fight rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda.
Rwandan and Ugandan military involvement in eastern Congo could provoke the entry of other belligerent forces, said Angelo Izama, an analyst with the Uganda-based Fanaka Kwawote think tank.
“This is the first shot in the regional escalation that had been anticipated,” he said. “The pattern being reenacted is that of Uganda-Rwanda interests in (Congo).”
Vast mineral wealth
South of Bunia, M23 rebels now control Goma, the capital of North Kivu province and the largest city in eastern Congo. The rebels over the weekend also seized Bukavu, capital of South Kivu province, after rapid military advances in recent days. Congolese forces have put up little resistance.
Congolese authorities see M23 rebels as a Rwandan proxy army. The rebels are backed by some 4,000 troops from Rwanda, according to evidence collected by United Nations experts.
Uganda and Rwanda have entered the conflict in eastern Congo since 1996, sometimes competing for influence among rebel groups opposed to Congo’s government. Congo’s neighbors also have been accused of illegally exploiting the country’s vast mineral wealth, including gold and coltan.
Facing pressure from M23, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi recently sought the help of allies to protect the territorial integrity of his country, about the size of western Europe.
Troops from Burundi, with its own tense relations with Rwanda, were sent to fight alongside Congolese forces. Troops from Tanzania and South Africa were also deployed under the banner of a regional bloc.
