The M23 rebel group operating in eastern DR Congo has said it will reoccupy the positions it handed over to the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF).
The announcement comes after the regional force began withdrawing from the positions in North Kivu Province on Saturday, December 2, less than 10 days before its mandate expires.
"Following the departure of the EACRF from DRC, for the well-being of the civilian population, the M23 will recover and occupy all its areas that it handed over to EACRF at the beginning of the peace process," the rebel group's spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said in a statement on Sunday.
In the statement shared social media on Sunday, the regional force said the situation in North Kivu remained uncertain following the breach of ceasefire in October, which has escalated the hostilities.
Kanyuka said the government coalition, which includes militia groups like the FDLR, had continued to bomb M23 positions and heavily populated areas using fighter planes, adding that the rebels would not "spare any effort to protect the civilian population and to defend itself professionally."
The rebel group also pointed to a continued collaboration between the Kinshasa regime and FDLR, an outfit composed of perpetrators of the Genocide against the Tutsi, despite a recent announcement by the former that they were stopping collaboration with the militia group.
The EAC regional force was deployed in November 2022 to support peace efforts and especially observe the withdrawal of the M23 rebel group, which fights the Congolese army in North Kivu province.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
The regional force, with troops from Kenya, Burundi, Uganda, and South Sudan, occupied positions vacated by M23 to allow for a negotiated peace process.
However, the Congolese government refused to renew the regional force's mandate, which expires on December 8.
The EACRF became at target of protests in the provincial capital Goma where its headquarters are located and its first force commander resigned in April, citing threats to his security.
Kinshasa wanted the regional force to fight the M23, which was not part of the latter's operational mandate.
In May, President Felix Tshisekedi threatened to kick the regional force out of the country after the Southern African Development Community (SADC) approved a military mission to conflict-ridden eastern region.
Troops from SADC are expected to arrive in DR Congo before the end of December.
Eastern DR Congo, which is home to more than 130 local and foreign armed groups, has been volatile for nearly three decades.
Multiple interventions, including one of the UN's longest and largest peacekeeping missions, MONUSCO, failed to end the decades of violence.
The 25-year-old UN mission in the country has been the target of demonstrations for failing to end the insecurity and plans to withdraw starting in December.
