Goma : dozens of FDLR-FARDC coalition members captured by the M23 during a security operation

SOS Médias Burundi

Goma, May 11, 2025 – Tensions remain high in the city of Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, following a security operation carried out on Saturday, May 10, 2025, by the M23 armed movement. According to its leaders, more than forty elements, including around ten members of the FDLR and around thirty FARDC soldiers and Wazalendo militiamen, were captured.

The operation was carried out in several neighborhoods of the district of Karisimbi, notably in Ndosho and Mugunga. Colonel Willy Ngoma, military spokesman for the M23, told the press that these men were “operating in 18 neighborhoods of Goma, sowing insecurity” and that some had been “caught red-handed committing theft and attempted murder.”

The FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) are composed mainly of Rwandan Hutus who fled after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, and are described by Kigali as “genocidaires.” The Wazalendo militiamen are local armed groups supported by Congolese authorities to fight the M23.

Since late January 2025, the M23, affiliated with the Congo River Alliance (AFC), has controlled several capitals in North and South Kivu, a strategic region rich in minerals. The movement has pushed back the FARDC, the Burundian army, the Wazalendo, and SADC (Southern African Development Community) forces. A parallel administration has been installed in areas under its control.

Congolese authorities accuse Rwanda of militarily supporting the M23, an allegation that Kigali systematically rejects. For its part, Rwanda accuses Kinshasa of continuing to collaborate with the FDLR. President Félix Tshisekedi, however, considers this group to be a “residual” force, reduced to acts of banditry without any real danger to its northern neighbor.

While the situation remains tense in the border territories, observers fear a deeper regionalization of the conflict, with the risk of spillover into neighboring countries such as Burundi, which is closely monitoring the evolution of the crisis and has deployed approximately 10,000 soldiers on the Congolese soil in support of the FARDC and the Wazalendo militias.

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Members of the FDLR and FARDC arrested by M23 rebels in Goma and shown to the local press, May 10, 2025 (SOS Médias Burundi)