Residents of Goma remark, “We hope for the best since M23 are here”

In Goma, the capital of DR Congo’s North Kivu Province, Augustin Bitunguramye, a taxi-moto rider, said on Thursday, January 30, that there was a feeling of security following the city’s conquest by the AFC/M23 rebels on Monday.

The 28-year-old Bitunguramye claimed that the corrupt Congolese troops (FARDC) and their allies, the FDLR and Wazalendo militias, who had controlled the city’s streets, were no longer required to collect needless taxes from taxi-moto riders.

“M23 is fine with us. We’re not compelled to pay taxes. “We are working without restriction,” he said to The New Times.

“You will move around without fear even if you want to do so at night.” Here, Wazalendo and FARDC are no longer a problem. They’re not harassing us anymore. This is the last of the marijuana. Neither FDLR nor FARDC are present here.

Ugandan entrepreneur Mahya Kansiime, who has been in Goma for more than ten years, walked for around fifteen minutes from her home to Avenue La Corniche near the Serena Hotel on Thursday after the shooting had subsided in the city.

“I wanted to check the neighborhood and see how everything is going in town, and the boda bodas (taxi-motos) are now very expensive, so I walked here,” Kansiime told The New Times.

While some stores are open and several minibuses for taxis are operating, the town remains quiet.

The M23 rebels have improved Kansiime’s situation in the few days that they have occupied Goma.

“I feel safe when M23 is around, so I go for a walk. You couldn’t just go about without the FARDC (Congolese army) requesting money, snatching your phone, or doing anything else,” she claimed.

I’ve noticed that the town has become safer and more tranquil. There was a lot of shooting and bombing merely on Monday.

Another Goma resident, Mamouda Mariam, told The New Times team late on Wednesday that business was still slow.

“However, the end of the gunfights between government forces and M23 rebels has made people happy,” she remarked.

Mariam, riding a scooter home, collided with M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma and his soldiers before braking abruptly in the middle of the road and sprinting to embrace him.

“I’m riding my bike and getting around town without fear today,” Mariam remarked. “Now that it’s evening, I have to head home. With [M23] finally here, we wish for the best.