DRC government says M23 rebels, Rwanda disrupting local air traffic

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) government on Monday accused M23 rebels and Rwandan forces backing them of sending false navigation signals to disrupt air traffic over the country's eastern North Kivu province, where the DRC's army is locked in fighting with the M23.

The Tutsi-led M23 have been waging a fresh insurgency in the vast central African country's militia-plagued east since 2022. Military efforts to push them back have intensified over the past year with the use of drones and aircraft.

DRC authorities, the UN, US and other Western governments have accused Rwanda of backing the group. Rwanda denies the accusations that have heavily soured relations with its neighbour.

The DRC government said on Monday it had investigated the emission of false Global Positioning System signals disrupting local air traffic.

Investigators traced the spoofing back to the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and the M23.

“These acts severely compromise the security of civil air transport,” it said, adding it also undermined humanitarian missions supporting thousands of people displaced by the conflict.

The government did not detail the scale of the impact on air traffic, which includes local passenger, humanitarian, military and UN peacekeeping flights over North Kivu.

It said it had reached out to the regional branch of the International Civil Aviation Organisation to request appropriate sanctions.

The RDF, the M23 and the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo Monusco did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Fighting in North Kivu has driven more than 1.7-million people from their homes, taking the total number of Congolese displaced by multiple conflicts to a record 7.2-million, according to UN estimates.