M23 claims brazen DR Congo airport attack far from front
The M23 on Wednesday claimed responsibility for a drone attack targeting a key airport in the city of Kisangani in the northeastern DR Congo, several hundred kilometres from the armed group's usual area of operations.
The attack marked an escalation in the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to observers, with the M23 not having previously carried out strikes so far from the territory under its control.
The claim by the Rwanda-backed anti-governmental group came a day after the announcement that the United Nations would soon send a mission to the volatile region to help enforce a ceasefire.
The resource-rich eastern DRC, which borders Rwanda and Burundi, has been mired in unabated violence waged by scores of armed groups for three decades.
In late 2021, the M23 resumed fighting after lying dormant for years. In a lightning offensive, the group and its Rwandan allies seized North Kivu's provincial capital Goma in January last year.
Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, fell the following month.
Since the sharp escalation in fighting, peace efforts led by Qatar and the United States have sought to end the crisis, leading to the signing of two separate accords.
Despite the agreements, however, the guns have not been silenced and clashes have continued on the ground.
Over the weekend, drones targeted the strategic airport in Kisangani, which is also used by the Congolese armed forces.
"Eight enemy drones were neutralised before reaching their target," the provincial government of Tshopo, of which Kisangani is the main city, said on Monday.
No casualties were reported.
Kisangani, a city of more than 1.5 million inhabitants on the banks of the Congo River, is more than 800 kilometres (nearly 500 miles) from Goma, the M23's stronghold.
It is the same distance from Uvira, the last major Congolese city to have seen fighting.
The runway at Kisangani's civilian airport is used for the take-off of Congolese army attack drones and fighter jets, which regularly conduct strikes on positions of the M23 militia and the Rwandan army.
'Lethal'
The M23 "had already used drones before, but mainly on the battlefield or in its immediate vicinity", Pierre Boisselet, coordinator of research into violence at the Ebuteli Institute told AFP.
"This ability to strike deep into Congolese territory is quite new," he added.
The armed group's claim of responsibility for the attack "puts into perspective the impact of the various peace processes on the reality of the situation on the ground", Boisselet said, adding that the M23's message "shows an escalation".
On Wednesday, the group confirmed in a statement that it was behind the drone attack between Saturday and Sunday, which had destroyed "the military drone command centre installed at Kisangani airport".
"The use of drones and mercenaries is neither exclusive to, nor reserved for Kinshasa," the M23 said, highlighting the presence of equipment abandoned by Congolese forces, particularly at the airports in Goma and near Bukavu.
The use of drones has become a key part of the conflict in eastern DRC, with both sides accusing the other of regularly using them for attacks in densely populated areas.
For the Congolese army, drones have become the "most lethal" tool and the "factor that most hinders" the advance of the M23 and its Rwandan allies, a security source said.
Qatar has been mediating between the Congolese government and the M23 for several months, and a commitment towards a ceasefire was signed in July.
In a parallel effort, the DRC and Rwanda formalised a US-brokered peace deal in December in Washington.
The agreements provide for a monitoring mechanism for the implementation of a "permanent" ceasefire, with support on the ground by the UN mission in the DRC (MONUSCO).