AFC/M23 vows to defend civilians against ‘Kinshasa’s terror’

The AFC/M23 has vowed to defend civilians in eastern DR Congo, accusing the government in Kinshasa of launching a deliberate campaign of “terror” against populated areas, following renewed drone attacks on the Minembwe over the weekend.

In a statement posted on X on Sunday, March 1, the movement declared that “the time for silence is over,” as it accused the government of abandoning dialogue in favour of military escalation.

“The Kinshasa regime has made its choice. It has chosen war instead of peace. It has chosen flames instead of dialogue... and chosen terror, launching deadly offensives instead of respecting the ceasefire we signed in Doha,” the movement said.

https://x.com/afcongo/status/2028045957695197203

The AFC/M23 portrayed the fighting as part of a systematic campaign.

“This is no accident. This is no mistake. It is a deliberate strategy of terror unleashed once again by the Kinshasa regime,” the movement said, accusing authorities of seeking to “terrorize the populations of the East and Swahili-speaking communities.”

“Minembwe burns, but the determination of the Congolese Banyamulenge people will not burn,” the statement read.

The statement followed earlier updates by the AFC/M23 spokesperson, Lawrence Kanyuka, who detailed the ongoing bombardments by coalition forces aligned with the Congolese army, including the Burundian forces, Kinshasa-backed Rwandan genocidal militia FDLR, mercenaries, and Wazalendo militias.

“Saturday, February 28, at 6:30 p.m.: The coalition forces of the Kinshasa regime set fire to the village of Kalongi in Minembwe, using drones,” Kanyuka wrote.

He said the attacks continued into Sunday with the coalition forces carried “incessant bombardments against heavily populated areas of Kalingi, using kamikaze drones.”

Describing the assaults as “barbaric and repeated aggressions,” Kanyuka said the movement’s forces remain “fully mobilized and ready to defend and protect the civilian populations, victims of a war imposed by the illegitimate regime of Kinshasa, which has chosen terror over peace.”

The movement’s deputy coordinator Bertrand Bisimwa warned that the government would have to face the consequences of its military option.

“Kinshasa fully assumes its choice of military option. It must also fully and extensively bear the consequences,” Bisimwa wrote.

“It concerns the future of the nation, the nature of a genocidal regime in Kinshasa, the choice between fear and justice. National unity will never be built on dictatorship, Tshilombo’s (Felix Tshisekedi) tribalism, nor on the ashes of the lands and villages of the East.”

AFC/M23 pledged “to defend every threatened land” and “to protect every family exposed to terror, bombings, and massacres.”

“Our struggle is political, our resistance is moral, our determination is irrevocable,” the statement reads.

“Every drone launched against our civilian populations strengthens the determination of AFC/M23, every village burned consolidates our commitment,” the movement said.