By Halima Athumani
KAMPALA, Uganda (AA) - Forty members of the M23 rebel group retreated into Uganda Wednesday night after heavy fighting the same night.
Confirming the incident to Anadolu Agency over the phone, Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) army spokesman Brig. Richard Karemire said: “They fought against the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and were pushed into Uganda.”
The fighting took place in Democratic Republic of Congo territory near the Ugandan border. Karemire said the 40 M23 soldiers, four of whom were armed, have surrendered to the UPDF.
“They will be kept at a temporary camp until their next destination is determined,” he said.
Last month, 44 members of M23 escaped from the army from the southwestern Bihanga army camp, where they had lived since 2014.
On Thursday, the DRC army said 16 M23 rebels had been killed in clashes in the past week in eastern DRC.
"We killed 16 fighters and captured five at the end of the confrontation in Rutshuru territory," Guillaume Njike, army spokesman in the North Kivu province said. He added that 58 fighters had surrendered.
- Refugees in Rwanda and Uganda
"The army has been able to repel the enemy to where it came from," he said referring to Uganda, recently accused by the DRC of allowing rebel incursions on Congolese soil.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, the M23 movement denounced a war imposed on returning fighters by the Congolese, which has forced them to defend themselves.
Supported by Uganda and Rwanda, the majority Tutsi M23 rebellion was defeated by the UN-backed Congolese army in 2013.
The M23 fighters are refugees in Uganda and Rwanda. The alleged resumption of fighting by the rebellion was denounced by Kinshasa in early January 2017.
The M23 Movement is a rebel group that was created in 2009. They are made up of former rebels who were reintegrated into the Congolese army after signing a peace deal with Kinshasa on March 23, 2009.
Their name comes from that date because they consider that the Congolese government has not respected the terms of the agreement.
Human Rights Watch, the International Criminal Court and the American government have accused the M23 rebellion of numerous acts of violence against civilians.
* Pascal Mulegwa contributed to this report from Kinshasa