M23 is still actively recruiting in Bukavu

In a post on X on Friday, February 28, one day after “a terrorist attack” at a rebel gathering in Bukavu, the capital of DR Congo’s South Kivu Province, which the rebels took on February 15, rebel spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said that the AFC/M23 recruits with full openness.

Thirteen people were killed and over 70 others, including women and children, were injured in Thursday’s terror attack, which the rebels blamed on the Kinshasa dictatorship.

The brief video that Kanyuka shared on X on Friday seems to have been recorded on the tragic day that a sizable throng assembled at the Place de l’Indépendance, a well-known public area in the center of Bukavu. Corneille Nangaa, the rebel leader, and his aides chaired the meeting.

According to the video, many young people answered the appeal of top rebel military commander Gen. Bernard Byamungu to register, come forward, and “contribute” to the country’s liberation by “removing bad leadership together.”

Young men surged forward as Byamungu asked the youths whether they were ready to come forward, causing a stampede.

Congolese government forces who have surrendered have likewise been assimilated by the rebels. On February 22, 890 troops and more than 2,100 Congolese police officers joined the rebels in Bukavu.

Just five days had passed since the rebel organization incorporated hundreds of government soldiers who had surrendered following the conquest of Goma, the capital of the North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in late January.

One of the senior rebel leaders, Bertrand Bisimwa, accused neighboring Burundi of being responsible for the attack in Bukavu on Thursday. According to preliminary findings, the Burundian army is the owner of the explosives used in the terrorist attack, he added. The Congolese government army coalition combating the rebels includes over 10,000 Burundian troops.

South Africa-led SADC forces, European mercenaries, remnants of the Rwandan Genocide masterminds, a loose coalition of local militia groups known as Wazalendo, and the FDLR, a terrorist outfit located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are also part of the Congolese army coalition.

The AFC/M23 rebellion, which has taken over large areas of territory in recent months and incorporated hundreds of surrendering government soldiers into its ranks, is fighting for governance that upholds fundamental human rights, protects all Congolese citizens, and tackles the underlying causes of conflict in the lawless Democratic Republic of the Congo.

An extraordinary joint EAC-SADC Heads of State and Government meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on February 8 called for an urgent halt to the rising instability in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The meeting also called for positive steps to facilitate meaningful engagement.

However, on February 15, the rebels took control of the important airport of Kavumu before pushing south to seize Bukavu as the security situation in South Kivu worsened due to reports of brutality, looting, and atrocities spread by the Congolese army coalition.

Residents had already urged the rebels to seize the city as soon as possible.

The conflict with AFC/M23 rebels has cost the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) significant casualties since January.

Kigali, who is worried about the international community’s constant skirting of the issue, emphasized last week that in order to find a lasting solution to the conflict, the UN Security Council must take Rwanda’s security concerns seriously and concentrate on the underlying causes of the endless predicament facing eastern DR Congo.

The UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution last week denouncing the AFC/M23 rebels’ continuous attack and advance in the east of their nation, but it omitted to address the core problems, such as the reality that the situation is still largely driven by a genocidal ideology and ambition.

As Kigali has frequently stated, the region is still experiencing an increase in violent ethnic extremism, which primarily affects Congolese groups that speak Kinyarwanda. This condition was a contributing factor in the M23 insurrection years ago. According to President Paul Kagame, the DR Congo conflict is an ethnic war in which Rwanda is used as a scapegoat and a segment of Congolese nationals are denied their rights.