DR Congo armed rebellion advances in eastern offensive

Armed anti-government fighters have advanced after launching an offensive in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, local and security sources said on Monday.

The front lines in the violence-wracked region had been relatively stable since the signing of a US-brokered peace deal between the DRC and Rwanda in December.

Washington has imposed sanctions on the Rwandan defence ministry and a financial institution in the central African country over their alleged ties to the M23 armed group fighting in the DRC.

The M23 movement -- which was renamed the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN) last month -- has seized swathes of the eastern DRC, home to valuable minerals coveted by world powers, since it took up arms again in 2021.

The eastern insurgency, whose declared aim is to overthrow the Congolese government, has appointed former president Joseph Kabila as its leader.

On Friday night, the FRN launched an offensive in South Kivu province and advanced around 50 kilometres (31 miles) along a main road headed northwest towards the strategic town of Walikale without reaching it, local and security sources said.

They crossed Kahuzi-Biega national park and took control of several towns, including Bunyakiri, they said.

Several kilometres beyond Bunyakiri, the town of Kambali is "already under enemy occupation", local army spokesman Major Dieudonne Kasereka told AFP on Monday.

He added that the town of Kambegete was still under the Congolese armed forces' control and said they were carrying out a counter offensive in Kambali.

"A large part of the population stayed locked in their homes" and many residents have fled to government-controlled areas, a civil society representative told AFP speaking on condition of anonymity.

Walikale, about 140 km from Bunyakiri, is a strategic road junction leading to the west and one of the main bases of the Congolese army in North Kivu province.