Goma (DRC) : more than 400 students heading to Kisangani for military training

At least 400 young university students from Goma in the North Kivu province (eastern DRC) left for Kisangani on Monday for military training. They claim to want to defend the nation against its aggressors. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

From Goma international airport, these young people took the plane towards Kisangani in Tshopo province.

“There, they join 800 other students from different provinces of the DRC. All will follow military training in Kisangani”, our sources say.

Those concerned say they are determined to defend the DRC against its aggressors.

“I am determined to defend my homeland. And I am going to training to stay there because I have to register in the army”, admitted Ally Bosamuka, a student in Goma.

His colleague plans to return to continue his university studies after his training.

Members of the civil society are calling for training to extend to all provinces of the vast central African country.

For Placide N. Kambale, one of the officials of the Forces Vives du Nord-Kivu, “this could contribute to the defense of the national integrity”.

However, the measure of the Minister of Higher Education is criticized by parents who find that “this decision only aims to destabilize the education of our children”.

Political analysts in the North Kivu province believe that insecurity in the DRC does not originate from a lack of personnel within the army and security services.

“The problem is not the lack of elements within the FARDC, and the police, but rather the country’s authorities who do not play their role”, said Josué Bumvagato, political analyst.

Note that military training for students from the DRC is part of the territorial integrity defense program, and that it will be done twice during the academic year, two months before the start of the academic year and two more months at the end of the same year, i.e., 4 months.

The Congolese authorities, who continue to call on young people to enlist in the army, in particular to help the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo) to fight the M23 in North Kivu, also maintain local militias to support the loyalist army.