M23 Head to Bukavu after Taking Goma in the DRC (Rwanda and Romanian Mercenaries)
M23 Head to Bukavu after Taking Goma in the DRC (Rwanda and Romanian Mercenaries)
Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The Congo River Alliance (AFC), including the instrumental Tutsi-led M23 insurgents (backed by Rwanda), seems intent on taking Bukavu (the regional capital of South Kivu) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This follows the fall of Masisi, Minova, and the recent capture of Goma.
AP News reports, “Goma is a key location in the conflict-battered North Kivu province whose minerals are critical to much of the world’s technology. Rebel groups have long fought over control of eastern Congo’s mineral wealth, and the conflict has often pitted ethnic groups against one another, with civilians forced to flee their homes and seek protection from armed groups.”
Accordingly, the AFC and M23 are emboldened by recent events on the ground – and are now intent on taking Bukavu.
Jean Pierre Lacroix (United Nations – Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations) reports, “The information I have is that M23 and Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF) are about 60 kilometers north of Bukavu. They seem to be moving quite fast.”
Lacroix continued, “There is an airport in the vicinity of where they are, I think a few kilometers south, which is Kavumu.”
The dire situation of the armed forces of the DRC is summed up by the need to recruit civilians to protect Bukavu. In Goma, the head of the DRC had been using European mercenaries. Therefore, M23 rounded up hundreds of European mercenaries before deporting them from the DRC.
Approximately 300 Romanian mercenaries surrendered during the fighting for Goma.
The BBC reports, “The Romanians were contracted to help the army fight the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, who say they are fighting to protect the rights of DR Congo’s minority ethnic Tutsis.”
Constantin Timofti (Romanian mercenary co-ordinator) said, “The M23 rebels were supported by troops and state-of-the-art military equipment from Rwanda and managed to reach our positions around the city of Goma.”
It begs the question of why the armed forces of the DRC turned to European mercenaries. Also, what is the role of France? After all, it appears that many of the Romanians had been in the French Foreign Legion.
This event gives credence to Rwanda’s version of distant and regional nations meddling in this complex issue.
Soldiers from Burundi are also helping the armed forces of the DRC in the town of Nyabibwe (north of Bukavu).
It remains to be seen if the armed forces of the DRC and allies will fight tenaciously against M23 insurgents in the environs of Bukavu – or if they will collapse once more (if reports are true about M23 seeking to take Bukavu).
At least 400,000 civilians have fled the fighting since the start of 2025.
If regional nations and the international community only rebuke Rwanda and pressurize this country, little will change in eastern DRC.
Questions also need to be raised about the poor military state of the armed forces of the DRC – and the European mercenary angle.
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