AFC/M23 applauds MONUSCO’s pledge to back measures that should reduce tensions

The June 13 meeting between the AFC/M23 delegates and the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO) in Goma was fruitful, rich, and full of optimism for peace, in contrast to the damaging propaganda and misinformation spread by the Kinshasa administration.

This Saturday, June 14, a day after rebel leader Corneille Nangaa met with Bintou Keita, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of MONUSCO, Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC/M23) spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka emphasized. Keita said she arrived in Goma, the rebel-held capital of North Kivu Province, “in a spirit of listening” and exchanging, according to a post on X.

“The AFC/M23 welcomes MONUSCO’s commitment to support any initiative likely to ease tensions,” Kanyuka wrote on social media.

Additionally, we want to draw attention to the terrible destiny of our Banyamulenge countrymen, who were the victims of horrible acts of barbarism, including cannibalistic horrors, and a covert genocide. Now, the truth must prevail over deception and coercion.

The Congolese government’s relentless attacks on the Banyamulenge community in South Kivu province have been repeatedly brought to the attention of the international community by AFC/M23 insurgents.

Kanyuka has reported and characterized as “terrorist actions” operations that have been systematically carried out on various densely populated areas of South Kivu on multiple occasions since last year. He claims that these “barbaric attacks have caused countless human losses and plunged the region into an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.”

According to Kanyuka, the Congolese government continued to use attack drones directed by MONUSCO intelligence to massacre civilians in Minembwe, Uvira, and the adjacent villages in South Kivu Province at the end of February. A week later, on March 4, Bertrand Bisimwa, the deputy coordinator of the revolt, stated that the DR Congo army coalition’s drones, Sukhoi fighter jets, and mortars had targeted and destroyed communities in South Kivu Province that were home to unarmed Banyamulenge residents.

To no avail, the Banyamulenge group has previously appealed to the international world to step in and put an end to the heinous murders that are being committed against them in South Kivu Province.