The 2025 Uvira offensive was a military operation conducted by March 23 Movement (M23) rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), centered around their advance toward Uvira located at the northern end of Lake Tanganyika. The military campaign followed the rebels' capture of Bukavu, the provincial capital of South Kivu, and occurred concurrently with advances towards Butembo in the neighboring North Kivu province.
The initial offensive slowed down in March and the front lines remained largely frozen until 1 December 2025. During a new offensive, M23 quickly advanced on Uvira along the Ruzizi River and National Road 5 as government defenses crumbled. M23 fighters entered the city, the provisional capital of South Kivu since the fall of Bukavu, on 9 December. Around 200,000 people were displaced by the renewed fighting in the region, including 20,000 that crossed the nearby border and reached Bujumbura, Burundi, on 9 December. M23 announced it was in full control of Uvira on 10 December.
Background
Uvira, situated along Lake Tanganyika approximately 25 kilometers from Bujumbura, Burundi, serves as South Kivu's second-largest urban center. The city's strategic location near the Burundian border makes it a crucial point for regional security and refugee movements. Prior to the clashes, the city had received an influx of displaced officials and military personnel following the March 23 Movement (M23)'s capture of Bukavu. The withdrawal of leadership and security forces led to widespread disorder and armed confrontations with allied militia groups in Bukavu.
Burundi reported the arrival of approximately 10,000 refugees between 14–16 February 2025. These displaced persons were initially accommodated in temporary facilities within Burundi's Cibitoke and Bubanza provinces, pending relocation away from the border region in accordance with Burundian regulations. Burundian authorities implemented measures to distinguish between civilian refugees and military personnel among the arrivals.
Offensive
Strategic withdrawal from Bukavu and FARDC–Wazalendo clashes
The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) strategically withdrew from Bukavu starting on 14 February 2025, aiming to establish defensive positions outside the city while minimizing civilian casualties. However, this plan faced opposition from allied militia groups, particularly the Wazalendo, who advocated for maintaining defensive positions within the city. The withdrawal precipitated violent confrontations between retreating FARDC forces and Wazalendo militia groups along the N5 highway south of Bukavu. Senior military sources reported widespread demoralization among troops following repeated operational failures and territorial losses. Attempts to establish defensive positions were further complicated by instances of soldiers abandoning their positions and engaging in looting during the strategic withdrawal.
From 15–17 February 2025, during the withdrawal and during M23 advances, armed confrontations erupted between FARDC forces and Wazalendo fighters, resulting in twelve fatalities among both military personnel and civilians. The conflict reportedly originated from the Wazalendo's attempt to acquire military equipment from FARDC soldiers who had retreated from Bukavu. When FARDC refused to relinquish their armaments, the situation escalated into armed violence.
Some sources claimed that on 17 February, FARDC senior officers in the region, including the 3rd Defense Region commander Lt. Gen. Pacifique Masunzu, 33rd Military Region commander Maj. Gen. Robert Yav Avul Ngola, and Sokola II operation commander in North and South Kivu, Brig. Gen. Andre Ehonza Uketi, left the Bukavu area and made their way to Uvira. The governor of South Kivu, Jean-Jacques Purusi, and his vice governor, were in Uvira when the fighting between FARDC and Wazalendo broke out, and crossed the border into Burundi. This created a disorganized command structure for the Congolese military in the days after the M23 capture of Bukavu.
These clashes, occurring in settlements including Kamanyola, Sange, and Uvira, emerged when Wazalendo fighters attempted to prevent FARDC personnel from retreating or deserting. The situation was exacerbated by incidents of military equipment being seized and redistributed by militia forces.
First M23 offensive and FARDC counterattack
By 18 February, M23 forces secured Kamanyola, a strategic location situated 25 kilometers south of Bukavu, after overwhelming the disorganized FARDC defensive positions. The capture of Kamanyola established a launching point for potential further advancement toward Uvira, located 75 kilometers to the south. Social media documentation appeared to show some communities, particularly in the Panzi region south of Bukavu, welcoming advancing M23 forces.
On 19 February, Médecins Sans Frontières reported that combat occurred along stretches of the N5 highway from Bukavu to Uvira, leading to dozens of injuries. Many FARDC soldiers took control of boats so they could flee across Lake Tanganyika. Guns were fired while citizens tried to get onto the boats. A prison in Uvira was broken into, freeing 228 FARDC soldiers who had been detained for desertion.
During M23 forces' advances, Burundi initiated the withdrawal of its National Defence Force (FDNB) from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, ending a long-term military presence in the region. Multiple military vehicles crossed back into Burundi from South Kivu, though some troops remained temporarily stationed near the border region.
The Minembwe village was captured by an M23-aligned rebel group, the Twirwaneho, on 21 February after defeating government troops, and also caused the Burundian National Defence Force troops in the village to withdraw. The leader of the Twirwaneho was killed on 19 February in a FARDC drone strike. According to the UN, Twirwaneho and the Burundian group RED-Tabara became "proxies" of M23 and the Congo River Alliance in South Kivu. On 24 February, the military governor of South Kivu arrived in Uvira with 600 FARDC soldiers and police officers, having left Bukavu when it fell to M23. On 25 February, the FARDC launched an attack on the Twirwaneho rebels in an effort to retake Minembwe and its airstrip. The military claimed to have killed four rebel commanders in a drone strike. On the same day, the M23-aligned group captured the town of Mikenge to the north. It was reported on 26 February that Burundian troops in the DRC were joined by reinforcements from Burundi and advanced north with Congolese government forces along the RN5 road, and were within six miles of the M23 positions around Luvungi.
As of 1 March, M23 and groups aligned with it were present in six of the eight territories of South Kivu. M23 is also supported in the province by Burundian fighters from the RED-Tabara group. Combat involving them and Congolese government forces, the Wazalendo militias and the FARDC, was reported in the Walungu Territory and the Mwenga Territory. In the latter, fighting continued outside of Mikenge town. On 3 March, the South Kivu provincial government was officially reestablished in Uvira by vice-governor Jean-Jacques Elakano. The governor, Purusi, had gone to Kinshasa, where he was received by President Félix Tshisekedi. On that same day pro-Congolese government militias began an advance in Mikenge, which was held by Twirwaneho and RED-Tabara rebels, and they captured it on 5 March. On 10 March, the FARDC and its allied militias launched ground and air attacks, including with aircraft from the Congolese Air Force, against M23 positions around Minembwe.
On 12 March, M23 captured at least six villages in the Walungu Territory and the Uvira Territory after advancing about 25 miles (40 km) south towards Uvira. The group's movement was to the west of National Route 5, where the FARDC and Burundian FDNB troops have taken positions. This brings M23 forces to about 20 miles (32 km) away from Uvira. The captured villages included Rurambo and Kigarama in the Bafuliiru Chiefdom, where a Mai-Mai Wazalendo militia group, Mai-Mai Rushaba, switched sides from the government to M23. There were reports of fighting between them and pro-government Wazalendo. In April 2025, Twirwaneho reinforcements were reported in Kamanyola, Katogota, Nyangezi, Luhwindja, and Kaziba, including convoys crossing the Rwanda–DRC border, which allowed M23 and the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF) to consolidate control over key transit routes, particularly Kaziba, Katogota, and the Tubimbi–Luhwinja corridor, and to expand operations from the Ruzizi Plain into the High Plateaus. Other advances in September–October toward Walungu Territory and Shabunda Territory, culminating in the capture of Nzibira, Luntukulu, Chulwe, Lubimbe, and positions along RP503, suggested an effort to secure logistical nodes linking Walungu Territory, Shabunda Territory, and Mwenga Territory, as well as airstrips and mineral trading centers. During this period, M23 and the RDF also sustained besieged enclaves held by MRDP-Twirwaneho in the High Plateaus by deploying additional troops despite pressure from FARDC, FDNB, and Wazalendo forces. After M23 reinforcements arrived in Minembwe in March 2025 under Lieutenant Colonel Jaffet Gakufe, a subsequent contingent led by Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Ndabagaza faced resistance while crossing hostile areas and reached Mikenge in late August.
Expansion into mineral-rich areas
On 21 September, M23 seized Nzibira, a strategic mineral trading hub in Walungu Territory and a transit point for cassiterite and coltan from Shabunda Territory, including production from mining areas around Nzovu. As a result of this expansion, territories under M23 control accounted for approximately half of South Kivu's cassiterite and coltan output and more than two-thirds of its wolframite production. While most artisanal and semi-mechanized gold mining in South Kivu remained concentrated in FARDC- and Wazalendo-controlled areas of Shabunda Territory, Mwenga Territory, and Fizi Territory, United Nations experts reported that M23-held zones included three major gold operations: a large artisanal site at Luhihi in Kabare Territory, the Twangiza mine in Mwenga Territory, and a semi-mechanized operation near Karhembo in Walungu Territory. Mining at Luhihi expanded rapidly following the January 2025 discovery of rich deposits at the Lomera site, with satellite imagery confirming the growth of a new mining settlement and the development of hundreds of active shafts; more than 5,000 artisanal miners were reportedly active during the first half of 2025. After assuming control in mid-February, M23 established de facto authority over local mining, replacing state services with an M23-run "mining office", imposing a production tax equivalent to 30 percent of the mineral's sale price, and introducing monitoring systems to assess ore quality and regulate transport to processing facilities, alongside additional levies on mining activities. On 30 August, M23 suspended operations at Lomera amid tensions with the mining community linked to rapid, unregulated expansion and rent-seeking practices, stating that activities would resume following the registration of artisanal miners; subsequent delays fueled speculation about a potential shift toward semi-mechanized exploitation.
Second M23 offensive and capture of Uvira
On 1 December, M23 launched an offensive on FARDC, Wazalendo, and Burundian FDNB positions along National Road 5 and near the Ruzizi River, which separates Burundi and the DRC, targeting Katogota, Lubarika, and Kaziba, in the Walungu and Uvira territories. The attack was launched from the group's forward position at Kamanyola, where it had remained since the front line mostly froze in March. M23 prepared for the offensive by gathering hundreds of troops and military equipment near the front. Burundi's foreign minister alleged that Rwandan soldiers entered the DRC as early as 28 November to reinforce M23 positions and take part in the offensive. Thousands of civilians fled the area along RN5 while clashes went on between M23 and government forces. Artillery strikes were fired, and the FARDC also used drones and fighter jets. Burundi blamed M23 for several projectiles that landed on its side of the border on 5 December. Fighting reached Luvungi, a key forward base for the Congolese military on 4 December, and it was taken by M23 between 5–7 December. Government troops retreated south from there to Luberizi. Burundian troops began withdrawing from their positions in the Ruzizi Plain after reportedly taking significant casualties, including their commander in the DRC being killed by an M23 drone strike. M23 also claimed to have captured several Burundian soldiers. Infighting among FARDC soldiers and Wazalendo militia members reportedly occurred on 7–8 December.