The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Goma, DRC | THE INDEPENDENT | The March 23 Movement (M23) rebels have sent over 40,000 captured troops from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and militia coalition to its camp in Rumangabo, Rutshuru territory in North Kivu province for fresh military training.
The FARDC soldiers and militia coalition under their umbrella Wazalendo (Patriots) were captured by M23 rebels after the fall of Goma city on Monday this week. The captured 280 foreign mercenaries, the majority Romanian nationals, were deported through Rwanda.
On Friday, all the captured FARDC soldiers and Wazalendo who had been confined inside Unity Stadium in Goma were ordered to board trucks belonging to M23 rebels and driven away. Corneille Nangaa, one of the M23/AFC leaders, told the media that the captives were taken to Rumangabo for fresh training. Nangaa says that during the training, the captives will first be brainwashed and instilled with a fresh ideology, patriotism, before new deployment to different units. Nangaa says that after deployment, the captives will be paid each month by M23/AFC.
Nangaa also highlighted the move by M23 to advance up to the country’s capital, Kinshasa. Bertrand Bisimwa, M23 rebels’ president, used the same opportunity to urge journalists against publishing what he described as propaganda that M23 is supported by Rwanda. Bisimwa stated that the accusations are part of a propaganda campaign by DR Congo leaders to blame Rwanda for the country’s problems.
A lull of gunfire is still observed in the city of Goma. Civilians have started to return to the city to carry out business as usual. Workers attached to the International Committee of the Red Cross were on Friday seen in Goma city collecting and wrapping bodies wearing military uniforms from the streets. Water and electricity were also restored in the main parts of Goma city after several days of crisis.
The government has maintained its stand of not directly negotiating with M23 rebels, describing them as terrorists. On Friday evening, Major General Eva Kakule Somo, the new governor of North Kivu province who replaced fallen Major General Peter Cirimwami Nkuba (killed on the front by M23 rebels), currently having an office in Butembo, Beni territory instead of Goma city, vowed to fight back until Goma city is liberated.
M23 rebels had captured Goma city during the 2012 insurgency but later withdrew after about seven days to allow peace talks with the government. However, after withdrawal, the government, in conjunction with mercenaries and United Nations troops, turned against and launched an assault on them until they fled to Uganda and Rwanda.
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 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, formed an alliance with the leader of the Alliance Fleuve 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
