Fighting Resumes in Masisi, Eastern DRC; AU Delegation Heads to Goma to Salvage Faltering Ceasefire

Fighting erupted again Wednesday in the Masisi area of eastern DRC, just one day after an AU mediation delegation composed of three former African heads of state arrived in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. According to Africanews, citing AFP reporters, this new round of clashes has deepened doubts about the effectiveness of the US-brokered peace agreement and the Qatar-promoted ceasefire commitment.

Three former heads of state from the AU five-person mediation group—Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, and Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana—arrived in Goma on Monday. AFP reporters noted that the delegation was first received at the office of 'Alliance Fleuve Congo,' the political branch of the M23 rebel group, rather than on the Congolese government side. This reception arrangement itself reveals the profound shifts in the balance of power on the ground in the east.

Last year, M23, through a lightning offensive, successively seized Goma and Bukavu, the capitals of North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, engaging in fierce clashes with Congolese armed forces. Africanews described M23 in its reporting as a 'Rwanda-backed' rebel group; Rwanda has repeatedly denied directly commanding M23, and the actual control relationship between the two sides remains disputed.

As fighting continues, external mediation efforts have also intensified. Last July, the Congolese government and M23 signed a ceasefire commitment in Doha, the capital of Qatar; by the end of that year, the DRC and Rwanda signed a bilateral peace agreement brokered by the United States in Washington. This August, multiple parties including the United States, Qatar, and AU representatives held a new round of talks in Switzerland and, by the end of August, dispatched the first advance team to the region to verify ceasefire implementation.

Examining the situation in the east since the Washington agreement was signed: a group described by Africanews as Rwanda-backed retains substantial control under the agreement's framework and directly hosts the AU mediation delegation visiting to broker peace—this reality shows a clear gap between external texts and the actual power dynamics on the ground. Whether the AU delegation's meetings with the UN mission in the DRC, MONUSCO, can push the warring parties to re-engage with ceasefire arrangements remains to be seen.