Nurses at the general hospital in Fizi, a town encircled by steep highlands in eastern Congo’s South Kivu province, rushed a wounded soldier into surgery after he arrived slumped on the back of a motorbike.
The soldier had been shot in both legs on the front lines in the mountains north of town, where clashes between government forces and rebel groups have intensified in recent weeks.
The fighting, unfolding far from major population centres and drawing limited international attention, is pulling additional forces into eastern Congo’s long-running conflict. The escalation risks further complicating efforts by the Trump administration to broker peace and promote Western investment in the region’s critical minerals sector.
Rebel advances push fighting south after key territorial gains
Earlier this week, the AFC/M23 rebel coalition cited the renewed clashes to justify a drone attack on Kisangani airport, hundreds of kilometres from the main front lines. The group described the strike as retaliation for alleged government air attacks on villages in South Kivu.
Congo’s military has not commented on the drone strike or on the rebels’ claims of aerial bombardments.
Meanwhile, casualties continue to rise.
At the end of January, the Fizi hospital, supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross, was treating 115 wounded patients—more than four times its official 25-bed capacity—according to a Reuters visit.
“Most of our patients have upper or lower limb injuries,” said surgeon Richard Lwandja. “They often arrive with infected wounds because there are almost no medical facilities near the front lines.”
AFC/M23 launched a rapid offensive early last year, capturing Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, in February 2025. The group later advanced south again in December, briefly seizing Uvira, a town near the border with Burundi.
The rebels withdrew days later under pressure from the United States, which helped broker a peace agreement between Congo and Rwanda in June.
The United Nations and Western governments accuse Rwanda of backing AFC/M23, including exercising command and control over the group. Rwanda denies the allegations.
Strategic highlands draw fighting, evade scrutiny
Recent clashes have centred on the highlands around Minembwe in Fizi territory, where the Congolese army has launched operations against AFC/M23 and its local ally, Twirwaneho—a group formed by Congolese Tutsi known as Banyamulenge.
“The highlands around Uvira are highly strategic,” said Regan Miviri, an analyst at the Ebuteli research institute in Kinshasa. “Whoever controls them gains access to major lowland towns. And because the area is so remote, the fighting attracts less attention and less diplomatic pressure.”
The government’s priority, he said, is securing Uvira and preventing the conflict from spreading toward Tanganyika and Katanga, regions that host some of Congo’s most important mining centres.
Diplomatic efforts struggle to match pace of conflict
AFC/M23 says its presence in South Kivu’s highlands is aimed at protecting the Banyamulenge community. Kinshasa, however, accuses the group of exploiting long-standing local disputes over land, cattle and political representation.
The escalation comes as Congo and AFC/M23 agreed this week in Doha to activate a Qatari-mediated ceasefire monitoring mechanism. A United Nations team is expected to deploy to Uvira in the coming days.
At Fizi’s hospital, staff say the steady flow of wounded shows no sign of slowing.
“Roads are often impassable, and supplies run out quickly,” said Red Cross nurse Robert Zoubda. “If this continues, we will have no choice but to put up more tents.”
