A rebel leader in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo says his fighters will withdraw from a key city at the request of the United States, the BBC reports, as cited by Gazeta Express.
The statement by Corneille Nangaa came days after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the capture of Uvira by rebel forces violated a peace agreement and that the United States would “take action to ensure that the commitments made to President [Donald Trump] are upheld.”
Nangaa said rebel forces would pull out of the city as a “confidence-building measure.”
The United States has accused Rwanda of supporting the rebels. Rwanda denies the accusation, but its president, Paul Kagame, signed a peace agreement on December 4 with his Congolese counterpart, Félix Tshisekedi, at a ceremony in Washington hosted by Trump.
The U.S. president hailed the agreement as “historic” and “a great day for Africa.”
The rebels were not signatories to the deal and have instead been participating in a parallel peace process led by Qatar, a U.S. ally with close ties to Rwanda.
