M23 enters Bukavu as Congo government loses key eastern city

*Event date: 2025-02-16.*

Rwandan-backed M23 rebels entered Bukavu on 2025-02-16 and seized the regional governor’s office, marking another dramatic gain in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Some residents clapped and cheered as fighters marched and drove into the city centre without resistance, a scene that captured the confusion and fear that followed the collapse of local authority.

Bukavu is the second-largest city in eastern Congo and the capital of South-Kivu province, so its fall is far more than a battlefield footnote. The Congolese government acknowledged the loss and told residents to remain at home to avoid being targeted by the occupying forces. The city’s population is about two million, and it sits at a key transit point for the mineral trade on the southern edge of Lake Kivu, close to Rwanda.

The rebel advance had already set the stage for this moment. M23 captured Bukavu’s main airport on Friday, about 30 kilometres north of the city, and then pushed slowly toward the centre. Provincial governor Jean-Jacques Purusi Sadiki said government troops had withdrawn to avoid urban fighting, leaving a security vacuum that was quickly filled by looting, a reported prison break and the looting of a WFP warehouse holding nearly 7,000 tonnes of food.

The political consequences are huge. The city’s fall represents an unprecedented expansion of territory for M23 since its latest insurgency began in late 2021 and a major blow to President Félix Tshisekedi’s government. Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of violating Congo’s territorial integrity and backing the rebels to profit from natural resources, while Kigali denies those claims and says its main concern is security.

Regional alarm is rising with reason. The African Union urged M23 to disarm, and the UN and European governments warned that the offensive could trigger a wider regional war. The rebels say they are taking control of territory the state abandoned; the government says a foreign-backed force is dismantling Congo’s sovereignty. Bukavu’s fall shows that the conflict is moving faster than diplomacy.

The territorial stakes are high because Bukavu is both a provincial capital and a trade gateway on Lake Kivu. The city’s fall followed the capture of the airport two days earlier and came amid reports of a prison break, looting and a WFP warehouse holding nearly 7,000 tonnes of food being stripped. The African Union’s call for M23 to disarm shows regional leaders fear the conflict could spill beyond Congo’s borders, especially given the government’s accusations against Rwanda and Kigali’s denial.

The city’s collapse unfolded against a backdrop of chaos. Residents reported gunfire, a security vacuum and looting, while the World Food Programme said a warehouse with nearly 7,000 tonnes of food had been ransacked. The rebel commander Bernard Byamungu was even filmed chatting to locals at the Place de l'Indépendance, urging government forces hiding in houses to surrender. That mixture of public display and military retreat is why Bukavu's fall feels like more than another territorial gain.

That wider fear is why the city's fall resonated well beyond South Kivu: Bukavu is not just another town, but a strategic southern gateway where the government, rebels and neighbouring states all see the risk of escalation.