Oct. 27, 2025 — A week after the Democratic Republic of Congo and the AFC-M23 signed a peace agreement in Doha, renewed fighting and reported airstrikes by FARDC forces on civilian areas have cast doubt on the future of the accord.
The October 14 agreement, brokered with support from Qatar, the United States and the African Union, established a ceasefire monitoring mechanism aimed at ensuring peace in eastern Congo. However, between October 21 and 23, the Congolese army resumed operations in multiple locations.
The pattern is now familiar enough to constitute a deliberate strategy: Kinshasa signs at the table and continues to fight in the field, banking on international attention spans that are too short to track the gap between commitment and conduct.