Second run

News Monitor #33
20 August 2026

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HIGHLIGHTS

Earlier this month the ICRC facilitated a transfer of 15 prisoners from DRC to M23. This long awaited step in the Doha process is encouraging but further releases are needed on both sides.
Following an increase of killings and kidnappings in recent weeks by the ADF, civil society in Mambasa planned actions to push the authorities to strengthen the protection of the community, including a day of mourning, two days of businesses closed and a six month tax boycott.
OCHA announced that one person dies of Ebola every 30 minutes in DRC. This grim statistic was announced as the outbreak became the second largest and fastest growing Ebola epidemic in history, with over 2,000 deaths recorded.

DRC UPDATES

PRISONER EXCHANGE

From August 6th to 7th, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) facilitated a prisoner transfer of 15 people formerly held by DRC to M23, marking the first handover of detainees between Congolese authorities and M23, a long-awaited step since the signature of the prisoner exchange mechanism in Doha on September 12, 2025, and a subsequent agreement signed in Switzerland that announced a mutual prisoner exchange by the end of April. The non-implementation of the measure had been presented by both parties as a major obstacle to the continuation of peace talks.

Though identities of the detainees who were released were not made publicly known, M23 issued a communique stating that only 9 of the prisoners were on the organization’s ‘non-exhaustive’ list of 768 people to be transferred over. None of the prisoners handed over were those with a death sentence, a key sticking point between Kinshasa and M23.

Massad Boulos, President Trump’s Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs welcomed the transfer, stating that it signalled ‘growing momentum towards lasting peace’. The U.S. showed particular appreciation for the ICRC, which served as a neutral mediator between both parties. Qatar also welcomed the transfer of detainees, with the Qatari Foreign Ministry stating that it would ‘serve as an impetus for further measures that strengthen confidence among the parties’. Qatar has called upon both parties to maintain their momentum in favor of peace and stability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

While the transfer of detainees is an encouraging step, it will need to be followed by further releases on both sides for it to be more than a merely emblematic action. M23 has stated that it has offered to transfer ‘several thousand’ FARDC soldiers and Wazalendo militants, back to the DRC via the ICRC, but that Kinshasa has refused to accept them. It should be noted that prisoner exchange is but one piece of a much larger puzzle: the Doha agreement includes a total of eight protocols. Ultimately though, the agreement will continue to fail to realize its aim until civilians in the North and South Kivu provinces no longer have to bear the costs of living through an armed conflict.

PEACE PROCESSES

On August 7th, DRC Minister of Regional Integration Floribet Anzuluni announced that the DRC had initiated the process for disarming and demobilizing the FDLR to remove Rwanda’s security justification for its support of M23. This move was welcomed by the International Contact Group of the Great Lakes, which requested that the DRC develop a timetable to complete the disarmament process and to avoid any colocation with the FDLR.
During the 6th Joint Security Coordination Mechanism in Geneva, the DRC and Rwanda proposed two additional initiatives to strengthen monitoring and verification of Washington Accords implementation on the ground. Afterwards, both governments agreed to host a trilateral planning conference in October to strengthen coordination surrounding operations.

ARMED CONFLICT AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Ebuteli released a report on August 18th, finding a 30% decrease in security incidents but also a 41% increase in kidnappings in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu. M23 accounts for nearly half of the kidnappings. It was also noted that ADF has made a resurgence in Ituri province.

Ituri

On August 7th, Haut-Uele Provincial Governor Jean Bakomito Gambu travelled to Bunia, in the Ituri province with the goal of strengthening cooperation surrounding Ebola and security issues. The governors of both provinces pledged to strengthen information sharing in order to better combat the ADF.
An ADF attack on August 8th in Mambasa territory killed 13 civilians. Many have taken refuge in Mambasa-centre, sleeping in classrooms or on the streets. Residents of Mambasa declared a ‘day of mourning’ on the 12th, and a 6-month fiscal incivility movement to protest the government’s failure to defeat the ADF.
An attack in Mambasa on August 15th, allegedly by ADF, left 5 civilians dead and 50 farmers abducted.
Ituri’s Governor Gaby Kasongo travelled to the Djugu territory on August 10th, just three days after Convention for Popular Revolution (CRP) fighters attacked the territory’s Djukpa village.
FARDC forces attacked CRP militants in Liko, located in the Djugu territory on August 11th, occupying the village where 11 were killed in combat.
Several ambulances were damaged and an ambulance driver injured by attackers on motorcycles on August 17th in Aru territory.
ADF militants allegedly launched an attack Mambasa-centre on August 13th, but they were quickly repelled by FARDC and MONUSCO defenders.

North Kivu

On August 8th, M23 attempted to capture the village of Misambo, but they were repelled. Another failed attack was launched on August 10th in the village of Katobo, held by the Wazalendo group Collective Movements for Change (CMC). On August 12th, Wazalendo fighters launched an offensive on the M23 held village of Kazuba, which they were able to capture.
On August 10th, North Kivu Military Governor Somo Kakule Evariste denied an involvement by political or military authorities arrest of youth activist Clovis Mutsuva who was detained in Beni in July. M23 forces clashed with Wazalendo in the Walikale territory.
Roughly 20 houses were looted by unknown armed men in the Rutshuru territory, near Virunga National Park, on August 12th.
The Synergy of Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP)/Wazalendo Grand-Nord Front (SWFGN), an association of 18 Wazalendo groups operating in North Kivu, released a proclamation prohibiting the formation of new Wazalendo groups in its area of operations on August 15th.
Over 1,500 children in the Banakindi locality are at risk of being unable to return to school after 3 primary schools in the area were destroyed by M23 rebels.
The Walikale Central Prison, located in the North Kivu province has reported on August 10th that it has experienced roughly one death a week as a result of overcrowding, malnutrition, and a lack of medical care for prisoners.
Civil Society actors in the Beni-Mbau area reported that FARDC soldiers had been charging motorcyclists ‘security fee’ tolls of up to 2,000 francs for passage on the Eringeti-Kainama axis on August 11th.

South Kivu

Two people were injured and a hotel was damaged after a drone attack in Fizi on August 19th. FARDC has accused Rwanda of piloting the drone.
Fighting has renewed between M23 and FARDC across the Kalehe territory. On August 7th, a mortar shell landed in the center of Lumbishi, killing 5 with neither M23 or FARDC taking credit. Meanwhile, clashes between M23 and Wazalendo in Bundje, killed three civilians. On August 12th, M23 forces attacked Katale and Mpanama but were repelled.
Civilian organizations in Uvira organized a protest march on August 14th to express their opposition to the ongoing violence in their province.

Tanganyika

Two Wazalendo fighters were killed in Kisengo after an exchange of fire with a FARDC patrol returning from Kyoko, on August 12th. After this and a series of other deadly incidents, a security mission was deployed to the nearby to Kisengo to assess the situation on the ground and reassure residents on August 14th.

DISPLACEMENT AND HUMANITARIAN

On August 9th, the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Union for Emancipation of Indigenous Women President Espérance Nyota put out a call for increased aid for indigenous women in the South Kivu, and for humanitarian actors to better track where displaced women are located.
Ituri’s Governor called on the displaced residents of the village of Bule to return to their homes on August 11th. There has been a slow movement back to the village after peacekeepers were deployed to the site, dissuaging fears of FARDC abuses.
The Network for Human Rights (REDHO), an NGO based in Butembo, called on security forces to carry out investigations against actors who have attacked health workers and medical facilities during the Ebola epidemic on August 12th.
The Congolese government announced they will launch a national solidarity campaign beginning on August 25th, with the goal of revitalizing a culture of “Mutual Aid” within the DRC.

EBOLA RESPONSE

OCHA announced that one person dies of Ebola every 30 minutes in DRC. This grim statistic was announced as the outbreak became the second largest and fastest growing Ebola epidemic in history.
On August 13th, WHO said “transmission is occurring faster than case detection and isolation, while contact tracing capacities are increasingly strained.”
Also on August 13th, the Director General of the Africa CDC Jean Kaseya reported the Ebola epidemic, which has now surpassed over 2,000 deaths, has spread to Bas-Uele, marking the sixth province in the DRC that has experienced cases.
While the Doctors Union for the DRC (SYMECO) suspended their strike on August 10th, healthcare workers in the east have threatened new strikes. National Ebola response workers in Kisangani demanded their salaries. Meanwhile, healthcare workers in Nizi and Kasenyi have declared strikes to demand months of backpay, posing a risk for Ebola response efforts.
At a health meeting on August 11th, North Kivu Senior Coordinator of Health Prisca Luanda Kamala stated that surveillance measures would be strengthened in Beni’s morgues to prevent the spread of Ebola and ensure safe burials.
UNHCR confirmed Ebola cases in at least five IPD camps in Ituri Province, noting that poor health infrastructure in IDP camps are unable to fully address what could become a health disaster
Maternal death rates are rising in areas affected by the outbreak, as pregnant women are avoiding health care facilities.

DOMESTIC POLITICS

Opposition parties maintained pressure on Tshisekedi for the convening of an inclusive national dialogue. In a statement on August 8, the C64 coalition condemned attacks perpetrated against opposition members at Camp Luka and reiterated its August 15th deadline. When August 15th came with no beginning of the dialogue, C64 announced a September 15th march in Kinshasa.
Pro-reform actors have increased their calls of support for constitutional changes, such as UDPS Secretary Augustin Kabuya, who promised that the reform would grant his party ‘real power’, New Congolese Civil Society Coordinator Jonas Tshiombela, who proclaimed his support for the reform during an interview, and Lumami’s Provincial Governor Iron-Van Kalombo, who organized a pro-reform march in Kabinda on August 19th.
Moïse Katumbi’s spokesperson Olivier Kamitatu Etsu acknowledged the return of his passport to him by the government, taking it as a gesture of goodwill, but not as an end to the judicial harassment of opposition figures.
On August 10th, 65 civil society organizations issued a memorandum requesting that Tshisekedi abandon the reform project, arguing that it was threatening the DRC’s national security by creating a polarizing political debate.
DRC President Tshisekedi established a discrete working committee to set up the format of the National Dialogue, while both CENCO and the ECC have expressed reservations about the dialogue’s format.
On August 13th, Tshisekedi requested a new deliberation from the DRC’s parliament on the law setting conditions for a constitutional referendum to integrate interpretive clauses from the Supreme Court into it. Parliament will discuss the law in September.

INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMACY

DRC President Tshisekedi met with Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso on August 10th in Brazzaville in order to discuss the strengthening of bilateral relations between the DRC and Republic of Congo.
On August 12th, the Southern African Development Community lifted its sanctions regime on the DRC after the nation finished paying its arrears.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called for a diplomatic solution to the ongoing crisis in the eastern DRC during a public conference held on August 14th at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Tshisekedi met with Gabonese President Brice-Coltaire Nguema in Libreville, where they signed 3 agreements surrounding the hosting of regular political and diplomatic consultations, and reciprocal visa exemption.
On August 17th, 54 members of U.S. Congress sent a letter to the Secretaries of State, Treasury and Commerce, as well as the U.S. Trade Representative, raising concerns about the administration’s trade agreements on critical minerals. The letter included concerns about the U.S.-DRC Strategic Partnership Agreement and the possibility of listing sanctions on notorious businessman Dan Gertler.

BUSINESS AND NATURAL RESOURCES

On August 8th, the DRC and Zambia entered an agreement to facilitate increased cross-border trade, and to end illegal transshipment.
During the 96th meeting of the Council of Ministers, DRC President Tshisekedi spoke about plans to strengthen the DRC’s relationship with Uganda to support equitable exploitation of oil resources in the Lake Albert basin.
Roughly 100 families were left homeless in Rubaya, located in the Masisi territory of North Kivu, after M23 militants evicted them and destroyed their homes in order to expand Rubaya’s coltan mining quarry.
Recognizing a reluctance from private sector companies to invest in rare earths. The U.S. Development Finance Corporation has committed $62.8M to projects in four African countries.
South Kivu Governor Jean-Jacques Purusi has begun an effort to increase food production across South Kivu in order to better supply the province’s population. Numerous investors are seeking to invest in the agricultural sector in the Ruzizi Plains. On August 12th, Purusi and foreign investors visited agricultural plants in Bwegera and Kiliba, two factories which Purusi intends to reopen to increase the supply of food

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Version francophone

En bref

Au début du mois, le CICR a facilité le transfert de 15 prisonniers de la RDC vers le M23. Bien que cette avancée tant attendue dans le cadre du processus de Doha est encourageante, d'autres libérations restent nécessaires des deux côtés.
Suite à une recrudescence, ces dernières semaines, des meurtres et des enlèvements perpétrés par l’ADF, la société civile de Mambasa a prévu des actions visant à pousser les autorités à renforcer la protection de la population, notamment une journée de deuil, deux jours de fermeture des commerces et un boycott fiscal de six mois.
L’OCHA a annoncé qu’une personne meurt d’Ebola toutes les 30 minutes en RDC. Cette statistique alarmante a été communiquée alors que l’épidémie est devenue la deuxième plus importante et la plus rapide de l’histoire, avec plus de 2 000 décès recensés.

ACTUALITÉS

LIBÉRATION DE PRISONNIERS

Les 6 et 7 août, le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR) a facilité le transfert de 15 personnes auparavant détenues par la RDC vers le M23, marquant ainsi le premier transfert de détenus entre les autorités congolaises et le M23, une étape très attendue depuis la signature du mécanisme d’échange de prisonniers à Doha le 12 septembre 2025, et d’un accord ultérieur signé en Suisse qui annonçait un échange mutuel de prisonniers d’ici la fin du mois d’avril. La non-mise en œuvre de cette mesure avait été présentée par les deux parties comme un obstacle majeur à la poursuite des pourparlers de paix.
Bien que l’identité des détenus libérés n’ait pas été rendue publique, le M23 a publié un communiqué indiquant que seuls 9 de ces prisonniers figuraient sur la liste « non exhaustive » de 768 personnes dont l’organisation exigeait le transfert. Aucun des prisonniers remis n’était condamné à mort, ce qui constituait un point de discorde majeur entre Kinshasa et le M23.
Massad Boulos, conseiller principal du président Trump pour les affaires arabes et africaines, s’est félicité de ce transfert, affirmant qu’il témoignait d’une « dynamique croissante en faveur d’une paix durable ». Les États-Unis ont particulièrement salué le rôle du CICR, qui a joué le rôle de médiateur neutre entre les deux parties. Le Qatar s’est également joint aux félicitations du transfert des détenus, le ministère qatari des Affaires étrangères déclarant qu’il « servirait de catalyseur à de nouvelles mesures visant à renforcer la confiance entre les parties ». Le Qatar a appelé les deux parties à maintenir cette dynamique en faveur de la paix et de la stabilité en République démocratique du Congo.
Si le transfert de détenus constitue une avancée encourageante, il devra être suivi d’autres libérations de part et d’autre pour ne pas rester une simple mesure symbolique. Le M23 a déclaré avoir proposé de rapatrier en RDC, par l’intermédiaire du CICR, « plusieurs milliers » de soldats des FARDC et de militants de Wazalendo, mais que Kinshasa avait refusé de les accueillir. Il convient de noter que l’échange de prisonniers n’est qu’une pièce d’un puzzle bien plus vaste : l’accord de Doha comprend au total huit protocoles. En fin de compte, cet accord ne parviendra toutefois pas à atteindre son objectif tant que les civils des provinces du Nord-Kivu et du Sud-Kivu devront continuer à subir les conséquences d’un conflit armé.

PROCESSUS DE PAIX

Le 7 août, la ministre de l’Intégration régionale de la RDC, Floribet Anzuluni, a annoncé que la RDC avait lancé le processus de désarmement et de démobilisation des FDLR afin de mettre fin au prétexte sécuritaire invoqué par le Rwanda pour justifier son soutien au M23. Cette initiative a été saluée par le Groupe de contact international des Grands Lacs, qui a demandé à la RDC d’élaborer un calendrier pour mener à bien le processus de désarmement et éviter toute cohabitation avec les FDLR.
Lors de la 6e réunion du Mécanisme conjoint de coordination en matière de sécurité, qui s'est tenue à Genève, la RDC et le Rwanda ont proposé deux initiatives supplémentaires visant à renforcer le suivi et la vérification de la mise en œuvre des Accords de Washington sur le terrain. À l'issue de cette réunion, les deux gouvernements ont convenu d'organiser en octobre une conférence trilatérale de planification afin de renforcer la coordination des opérations.

CONFLITS ARMÉS ET DROITS HUMAINS

Ebuteli a publié un rapport le 18 août, faisant état d’une baisse de 30 % des incidents liés à la sécurité, mais aussi d’une hausse de 41 % des enlèvements en Ituri, au Nord-Kivu et au Sud-Kivu. Le M23 est à l’origine de près de la moitié de ces enlèvements. Le rapport souligne également la résurgence de l’ADF dans la province d’Ituri.