M23 announces withdrawal from Uvira following US pressure

The rebel movement M23 has announced its exit from the strategically important city of Uvira in eastern DRC. This reportedly comes at the request of American mediators in the conflict between the M23 and the armed forces of the DR Congo.

The rebel movement M23 announced on Wednesday that it had agreed to a request from US mediators a day earlier to withdraw its forces from the city of Uvira in eastern DRC.

The M23 has been fighting Congolese armed forces in the region for the past year in a brutal conflict that has killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Despite the leaders of the DRC and Rwanda - accused of backing the M23 - signing a US-brokered peace agreement in Washington on 4th December, the M23 rebels were not included in the negotiations. As a result, they captured Uvira, which is situated near the borders with Burundi and Rwanda, just days after the peace deal.

The M23 said that its withdrawal was happening "for the sake of peace" and reports confirm that their troops began leaving the town voluntarily.

The withdrawal is reportedly set to be completed on Thursday.