Despite repeated calls for peace, fighting continues to rage in Minembwe, a strategic locality in South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Civilians are bearing the heaviest toll as bombings, forced displacements and pervasive insecurity become daily realities.
On 24 June, representatives from the Congolese and Rwandan governments met in London and reaffirmed their commitment to the peace process. Both sides agreed to implement the ceasefire and peace accord signed in June 2025, and to work toward de-escalating tensions in Minembwe.
This small administrative entity in Fizi territory has become a key battleground. The Congolese army and the AFC-M23 rebels, each backed by allied militias — the Wazalendo and Twirwaneho respectively — are locked in a fierce contest for control.
Even health facilities are not spared
Clashes are almost daily, with heavy human and material losses. A local resident described the relentless drone bombardments, saying that even the Minembwe general referral hospital and several health centers have been targeted. “The paediatric ward was bombed yesterday. The Ilundu health centre near the airstrip was also hit. The war is constant, the drones terrify the population. People have fled. The situation is dire,” he said.
Civilians caught in an endless cycle of violence
In recent weeks, the escalation of hostilities around Minembwe has triggered fresh waves of displacement. The South Kivu civil society collective is demanding that all parties respect the various signed agreements, starting with the ceasefire.
Hypocrate Marume, a member of the South Kivu civil society coordination framework, lamented that “civilians continue to be prey for the belligerents everywhere. People keep fleeing. The crisis is worsening, and we, the population, are being killed. As South Kivu civil society, we repeat our call for both sides to lay down their arms and talk — for the sake of peace.”
The fight for a strategic stronghold
The Minembwe clashes are rooted in deep community tensions and a struggle for control over an area that holds both military and symbolic value.
Professor Philippe Doudou Kaganda, scientific director of the Great Lakes Region Centre for Research on Conflicts and Peace, explained: “Minembwe is a vast space that allows whichever faction holds it to launch counter-offensives against its adversaries, both in the middle plateaus and in the Ruzizi plain. It is a crossroad linking Mwenga territory. Minembwe has also been a conflict zone for decades. When one faction conquers it, it represents a certain victory in a territorial and ethnicised war.”
For the people of Minembwe, peace remains a distant dream. They now live under the constant threat of drone strikes and exchanges of fire that seem never-ending.
