AFRICA/DR CONGO - M23 enters Goma

Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – “It was a terrible night,” local sources told Fides from Goma, the capital of North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was conquered today, January 27, by the rebels of the M23 movement. In the Munzenze prison, where about 3,000 prisoners are held, there were hellish scenes. “Throughout the night, as the rebels approached, the prisoners started a revolt. The guards shot indiscriminately. Around 8 in the morning, the prisoners began to jump from the roof of the prison and escape. All the prisoners escaped. We do not know if it was the officers themselves who opened the doors of the prison; the fact is that it is now empty” report our sources.
“At dawn, M23 troops entered the city, and now the fighting is concentrated in the airport area,” Fides sources add. Congolese troops of the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo) surrendered at dawn on January 27. The Congolese authorities have confirmed the death of the military governor of the province, Péter Cirimwami, after several contradictory reports on his fate (see Fides, 24/1/2025). The defeat of the FARDC also represents a failure for the international community, which had deployed in North Kivu the blue helmets of MONUSCO (UN Mission in the DRC) and soldiers from the force of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC). At least nine South African soldiers from SAMIDRC, along with three Malawian and one Uruguayan MONUSCO blue helmets, have lost their lives in the fighting in recent hours. Some FARDC soldiers and pro-government militiamen from Wazalendo have surrendered to MONUSCO, complying with the demands of the M23, which claims to have control of traffic in Lake Kivu, thus blocking the possibility of escape through its waters. On the international level, while the Kinshasa government rejected the mediation proposed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (see Fides, 24/1/2025), Kenyan President William Ruto has announced an extraordinary summit of the East African Community (EAC) “in the next 48 hours”, with the participation of the Heads of State of the DRC and Rwanda, the latter indicated as a sponsor of the M23. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 25/1/2025)

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