NEW | The Congolese government conducted an unsuccessful offensive on Rwandan-backed M23 rebels in the eastern DRC, likely aiming to capture a key mining town controlled by M23.
— Critical Threats (@criticalthreats) June 2, 2026
M23 separately carried out its first successful drone attack on the main Congolese army (FARDC)… pic.twitter.com/YMHY8FXhfY
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NEW | The Congolese government conducted an unsuccessful offensive on Rwandan-backed M23 rebels in the eastern DRC, likely aiming to capture a key mining town controlled by M23.
M23 separately carried out its first successful drone attack on the main Congolese army (FARDC) airbase hundreds of miles away from the eastern DRC front lines, in response to the DRC’s ongoing decapitation strike campaign in the eastern DRC.
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The FARDC and Congolese-backed Wazalendo militia fighters launched the ground offensive around May 18, capturing numerous villages on lines of advance toward Rubaya, a major coltan mine controlled by M23 in Masisi district in North Kivu province.
M23 reportedly began consolidating forces for several days before launching a counteroffensive and recovering most of the positions that it had lost in Masisi, however. 2/7
9:31 AM · Jun 2, 2026
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The Congolese government likely views capturing Rubaya as a major economic and political objective.
Tax revenue from Rubaya, which is estimated to produce 15 to 30 percent of the global coltan supply, is likely a key source of income for M23 as the group struggles to stimulate the local economy.
DRC President Félix Tshisekedi has offered the mine to the United States as one of the assets under the Strategic Partnership Agreement signed in December 2025, but Rubaya was also reportedly at the “heart” of discussions between US and Swiss mediators and M23 during meetings in Rwanda in late May. 3/7
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M23 launched its fourth drone barrage on the FARDC’s airbase at Kisangani since the beginning of 2026, likely in response to the DRC’s escalating decapitation campaign against rebel leaders.
The FARDC or FARDC-employed private military contractors conducted drone attacks that likely targeted but failed to kill M23’s North Kivu governor and M23’s military commander in North Kivu on May 24.
M23 then attacked Kisangani, which houses many of the long-range drones that have been integral to the FARDC’s air campaign, on May 23 and 24, with up to eight separate projectiles or drones on various sites used by the FARDC drone command at the base. 4/7
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The attack reportedly damaged a mobile drone command center, air defense systems, and possibly other facilities, although the DRC claimed that it intercepted the projectiles before reaching their targets. 5/7
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Congolese government attempts to capture major territory and kill senior rebel leaders in military operations further undermines trust and the already-struggling peace process with M23.
The DRC’s offensive on Rubaya and use of air assets to conduct regular drone strikes across the front lines violates its commitments to halt hostilities and secure a permanent ceasefire, while undermining efforts to negotiate a political resolution to the conflict in peace talks. 6/7
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Read the full assessment in this week’s Africa File, which also covers Fano’s disruption of Ethiopian elections and Puntland state forces’ intensified operations against the Islamic State Somalia Province in northern Somalia. https://criticalthreats.org/analysis/ethiopia-fano-tplf-abiy-somalia-isis-puntland-drc-m23-rwanda-rubaya-africa-file-may-28-2026 7/7
On the other hand, this is it for recent articles found in a quick search of the internet just before midnight Tuesday:US imposes sanctions on commanders over fighting in eastern Congo
[AOL-Reuters] The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on commanders of gangs it accused of driving the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
, where fighting has continued despite mediation efforts by Washington.
Clashes have continued in eastern Congo, where M23 rebels, which the U.N. says are backed by Rwanda, and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Hutu militia rooted in the 1994 genocide, are fighting on opposite sides. Rwanda denies backing M23.
The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on M23 commander and chief of intelligence John Imani Nzenze, as well as Gustave Kubwayo, an FDLR commander and leader of an intelligence and special operations unit.
"President Trump has been clear that there is an urgent need to resolve the horrific conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the United States is committed to peace and prosperity in the region," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement.
"Persistent violence by gangs is exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis and presents a threat to U.S. interests in the region. Today’s sanctions support a peaceful resolution and end to the bloodshed."
Nzenze, a spokesperson for the Rwandan government and the Democratic Republic of Congo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Rwanda and Congo signed a peace deal in Washington in December as part of U.S. President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
's push to broker peace and attract billions of dollars in Western investment.
Days after that ceremony, however, M23 rebels entered the eastern Congo city of Uvira, near the Burundian border, in the war's biggest escalation in months. They later pulled out under U.S. pressure.
Related:
M23 rebels: 2026-05-28 Congo: Burundian army (FDNB) deployed two more battalions in support of the Congolese government in South Kivu province
M23 rebels: 2026-05-23 DR Congo residents burned down an Ebola treatment center after being denied the release of bodies
M23 rebels: 2026-05-16 Congo: Rwandan-backed M23 rebels withdrew unilaterally from the Ruzizi Plain in the eastern DRC
M23 rebels: 2026-05-28 Congo: Burundian army (FDNB) deployed two more battalions in support of the Congolese government in South Kivu province
M23 rebels: 2026-05-23 DR Congo residents burned down an Ebola treatment center after being denied the release of bodies
M23 rebels: 2026-05-16 Congo: Rwandan-backed M23 rebels withdrew unilaterally from the Ruzizi Plain in the eastern DRC