Monitoring team will head to Uvira within days as fighting intensifies across the region
Qatar's foreign ministry announced Monday that the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo will deploy its first team to monitor the ceasefire between the Congolese government and the AFC/M23 rebel group in the coming days. The announcement follows intensive diplomatic talks in Doha aimed at implementing the November 2025 Framework Agreement for Peace.
The monitoring team, drawn from MONUSCO peacekeeping forces, represents a tangible outcome of months of Qatar-mediated negotiations. The deployment marks a critical test of whether international oversight can translate fragile diplomatic agreements into lasting calm in a region that has seen virtually uninterrupted violence for over two years.
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The UN team will deploy to Uvira, a strategic city in South Kivu province on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, according to the Qatari statement. The choice of Uvira reflects both its tactical importance and its proximity to areas where M23 forces have consolidated control. The deployment comes as part of MONUSCO's expanded mandate, recently renewed by the UN Security Council to specifically support permanent ceasefire arrangements.
Yet this diplomatic progress stands in stark contrast to the reality on the ground. Fighting continues across eastern Congo despite the ceasefire framework. A drone attack on Kisangani airport over the weekend—if confirmed as an M23 operation—would mark a significant westward escalation of the conflict, extending the rebel group's reach beyond its traditional strongholds in North Kivu. The Kisangani strike underscores the fragility of any ceasefire arrangement when military operations show no sign of abating. Previous incidents have highlighted the severe humanitarian toll of instability in the region.
Members are reading: Why the next 72 hours will determine if this monitoring mission is substantive or performative
The M23 rebel group has seized substantial territory across eastern Congo since resuming major operations in 2021, creating a humanitarian crisis that has displaced millions. The deployment of UN monitors represents the first meaningful implementation step of the Doha peace framework, but its success depends entirely on both parties' willingness to permit genuine oversight in an increasingly volatile security environment.
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