• UN troops pull out of the town of Rumangabo, losing terrain to the M23 rebel group.
• The M23 launched a new onslaught in October and took Kiwanja.
• UN soldiers are backing Congolese authorities against the rebels for months.

The UN peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has pulled troops from Rumangabo, losing terrain to the M23 rebel group.

The M23 launched a new onslaught in October and took Kiwanja on Saturday, disrupting months of relative peace. UN soldiers have been backing Congolese authorities.

“We have made a strategic and tactical pullback from Rumangabo, in cooperation with our partners, to better prepare the next steps together,” the UN mission, MONUSCO, tweeted on Tuesday.

It didn’t elaborate.

After years of inactivity, the M23 restarted warfare in late 2021, alleging the DRC government of breaking a deal to incorporate its troops into the army.

After weeks of peace, the Congolese military and M23 clashed on October 20, advancing across North Kivu region.

DRC’s loss of the major military post significantly weakens security in the conflict-torn east, where thousands remain displaced.

“Kiwanja’s collapse humiliates Kinshasa again. “But it also raises real problems, once again, of how an extremely small insurrection can achieve this on their own,” said Jason Stearns, founder of the Congo Studies Group, a research organisation at New York University.

Rwanda denies supporting the rebels, but the crisis has escalated tensions. Kinshasa removed Rwanda’s DRC ambassador in October.

UN analysts uncovered evidence Rwanda was giving military aid to M23 in eastern DRC in August. Rwanda denies the results.

Since Kiwanja’s seizure, DRC’s North Kivu province’s capital, Goma, has been cut off from the upper half. Since combat resumed on October 20, the UN reports over 90,000 people have fled their homes.

The escalation prompted East African heads of state to make a conference call on Tuesday and convene their defense chiefs to discuss the security crisis, Burundi’s president’s office said.

On Wednesday, Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb, who has frequently covered the eastern DRC conflict, said that Goma villagers believe the UN forces, who have been there since 2000, have failed to reduce insecurity.

In recent months, Goma has seen protests against Rwanda and the UN.

“Congolese people feel this has gone on too long,” he remarked.

President William Ruto deployed troops as part of a regional peacekeeping operation to assist stabilize the DRC on Wednesday.

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