The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Goma, DRC | THE INDEPENDENT | The March 23 Movement (M23) rebels have appointed Colonel Bahati Musanga as the parallel governor of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. In a February 5, 2025 statement, signed by Bertrand Bisimwa, the M23 political head released by the rebels’ political spokesperson, Bahati’s appointment took immediate effect.
According to the statement, Willy Manzi Garambe has been appointed the vice governor in charge of political, legal, administrative, and political affairs. Shadary Amani Bahati has been appointed as the vice governor in charge of economic, financial, and development affairs.
M23’s parallel administration was appointed a few days after the DR Congo government appointed Major General Evariste Somo Kakule as the new military governor of the province, replacing Major General Peter Cirimwami Nkuba, who was shot dead by the March 23 Movement (M23) rebels during a fierce gunfire exchange with Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) soldiers and coalition in Kasengezi in Sake, Nyiragongo territory.
Cirimwami had visited the front line to take pictures to portray how the government army had stopped M23 fighters from conquering Sake town. Kakule is currently operating from Beni territory, north of North Kivu province. The DR Congo government has not yet commented on M23’s parallel leadership.
Meanwhile, life is returning to normal in Goma city. Goma market was once again supplied with food products from at least four surrounding territories, particularly along Rutshuru-Nyiragongo and Kalehe-Masisi, Kanyabayonga-Kiwanja-Kibumba, Kitshanga-Masisi-Centre, and Minova-Kalehe roads.
The DR Congo government has also vowed to fight back and re-conquer all areas under the M23 rebels’ occupation. The insurgency resumed in 2022, led by Bertrand Bisimwa and Emmanuel Sultan Makenga, where they captured FARDC positions in Tchanzu and Runoni in Rutshuru territory and later advanced to capture the Bunagana border. Since then, the insurgency has left many parts of North Kivu and South Kivu provinces in the hands of the rebels.
Bisimwa and Makenga, in August 2024, allied with the leader of the Alliance Fleuve (River) Congo (AFC), Corneille Nangaa Yobeluo, former country’s electoral commission chairman, to amplify the insurgency against the government. The DR Congo government has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting M23, a claim that both Rwanda and M23 deny. The rebels assert that their fight is against corruption, xenophobia, and discrimination within the DR Congo’s leadership.
*****
URN
