Crisis in DR Congo: M23 rebels evacuate Walikale

The Alliance fleuve Congo (AFC/M23) rebellion said on Saturday, March 22, that it “decided to reposition its forces from the town Walikale” in North Kivu Province, which it seized on March 19. This move is in accordance with a unilateral ceasefire that was announced on February 22 and is intended to support peace initiatives that aim to address the underlying causes of the conflict in eastern DR Congo and create more favorable conditions for political dialogue.

The rebels took control of Walikale, a hamlet located roughly 130 kilometers northwest of Goma, the provincial seat of North Kivu, on January 27. The rebels’ swift progress this year had taken them as far west as they had come. The FDLR, a terrorist group located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that was established in the middle of the 2000s by the surviving leaders of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsi, has long held sway over Walikale.

The government of Congo, which has incorporated the group’s combatants into its national army ranks, particularly in the elite presidential guard brigade, is still purposefully downplaying the existential threat posed by the genocidal militia, whose deadly ideology has wreaked havoc throughout the nation and the Great Lakes region.

“We urge the people of Walikale and their local leaders to take the required actions to guarantee the safety and security of the civilian population and their property throughout this transition,” says a portion of a statement released by rebel spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka on X.

“The AFC/M23 reaffirms its commitment to upholding its positions and protecting the civilian population in the pursuit of a peaceful settlement of the conflict.”

“A decision that is provoked will automatically be reversed.”

The rebels threatened to reverse this decision automatically if the Congolese army coalition—which includes hundreds of European mercenaries, the Rwandan genocidal militia, a group of Congolese militias called Wazalendo, thousands of Burundian troops, South African-led SADC forces, and UN peacekeepers—provoked or resumed attacks against the civilian population, including in rebel-liberated areas “and our positions.”

The Rwandan genocidal militia relied heavily on Walikale as a commercial center. Many genocide fugitives are thought to have flourished in the area where Gaston Iyamuremye, the president of the murderous militia and Byiringiro Victor Rumuli, now 77, had his primary base. Others were compelled to flee, going in different ways farther inland, while others might have been taken due to the rebel push in the area.

Tshopo Province and Maniema Province to the west, Lubero territory to the north, Rutshuru territory and Masisi territory to the east, and South Kivu Province to the south encircle Walikale territory, the province’s largest territory.

Areas under the authority of the genocidal militia were reportedly primarily remote forests and mining sites that were manually and illegally exploited under the militia’s own form of government.

In 2021, the Congolese army coalition and M23 rebels began their most recent battle.

Since December 2023, M23 has been a part of the Alliance fleuve Congo (AFC), a bigger and ever expanding rebel coalition.

Up to 100 young people from Bweremana, in the Bahunde chiefdom of Masisi area, “expressed their desire to join” the rebel movement on Tuesday, March 17, after the new leaders of North Kivu Province ran an awareness-raising campaign.

As it fought the AFC/M23 rebels, a large coalition of Congolese soldiers made matters worse.

Alliance fleuve Congo, led by Corneille Nangaa, a former head of the Congolese national electoral commission, is fighting for governance that upholds fundamental human rights, protects all Congolese residents, and tackles the underlying causes of conflict. Tribalism, nepotism, corruption, and the FDLR’s doctrine of genocide are among the vices that the insurrection has sworn to eradicate from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The insurgents swiftly swept through the provinces of North and South Kivu in January, liberating large areas of land.

On January 27, the rebels reestablished order in Goma after intense combat that had been sparked by the Congolese army coalition’s repeated violations of a truce.

Reports of brutality, theft, and atrocities spread by the Congolese army coalition caused the security situation in South Kivu to worsen. In response, the rebels once more attacked, seizing the important airfield of Kavumu before advancing south to seize the regional capital, Bukavu, on February 15.

The rebels announced Monday that they had withdrawn from direct peace talks with the Congolese government that had been scheduled for March 18 in Luanda, the capital of Angola. They cited interference from Western nations, particularly the EU, led by Belgium, and some international organizations, which they claimed were “deliberately working to sabotage peace efforts” in DR Congo and prevent the long-awaited talks. According to Kanyuka, “direct dialogue is seriously compromised and any progress is prevented by the successive sanctions imposed on our members, including those adopted on the eve of the Luanda discussions.”

“The Luanda dialogue, which was supposed to start this Tuesday, March 18, 2025, and bring our organization and the power of Kinshasa around the table, has just been sabotaged by the EU,” stated AFC Executive Secretary Benjamin Mbonimpa. This is where some nations’ nefarious meddling stems from their colonial nostalgia!

In South Kivu Province, the Congolese army and its Wazalendo-allied militia continue to attack villages with unarmed Banyamulenge inhabitants, particularly with bomb explosions, according to Congolese lawyer Moise Nyarugabo.