{"id":2000110735,"date":"2026-05-01T14:20:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T12:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000110735"},"modified":"2026-05-01T14:24:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T12:24:24","slug":"maj-gen-sultani-makenga-says-afc-m23-will-not-retreat-in-drc-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/maj-gen-sultani-makenga-says-afc-m23-will-not-retreat-in-drc-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"Maj. Gen. Sultani Makenga says AFC\/M23 will not retreat in DRC conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

He made the remarks on April 30, 2026, at the Kanombe training centre in Rutshuru Territory during the closing of the second phase of training for local administrative leaders operating in areas under AFC\/M23 control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maj. Gen. Makenga said the DRC has long suffered from mismanagement, blaming successive governments in Kinshasa for what he described as governance failures, corruption, and divisions that have displaced communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur country has been destroyed for a long time by the government in Kinshasa and politicians who put their own interests first, driven by divisionism, and who have ruined our country. You fled because of these people in Kinshasa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the situation necessitates continued resistance, insisting that AFC\/M23 will not withdraw from its objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe journey to liberate our country will not go backwards. As leaders of this movement, we assure you that we will not retreat; we will continue moving forward,\u201d he said. \u201cYou, local leaders, should go and tell the population to remain calm, to farm, to raise livestock, to trade, and not to worry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Makenga also called on those collaborating with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) to abandon the group, saying they should instead reconcile and return to their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose Interahamwe should go back home. Congolese should return home and work with others to build the country. They are brothers, they are your children, they are your companions. Go and tell them to come back. Those who want to join the army should be trained and integrated; those who want to return home should do so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He further stated that President F\u00e9lix Tshisekedi\u2019s government relies on force rather than dialogue, saying AFC\/M23 will continue its armed struggle until it achieves its stated objectives in the DRC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Maj. Gen. Makenga said the DRC has long suffered from mismanagement, blaming successive governments in Kinshasa for what he described as governance failures, corruption, and divisions that have displaced communities.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFC\/M23 military leader, Maj. Gen. Sultani Makenga, has said the coalition has no intention of stepping back in what it describes as a struggle to \u201cliberate\u201d the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000110736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[151,99],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000110735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-editors-choice","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000110736,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/screenshot_314_-9dba4.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1000,"height":563,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/screenshot_314_-9dba4.jpg","width":150,"height":84},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/screenshot_314_-9dba4.jpg","width":300,"height":169},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/screenshot_314_-9dba4.jpg","width":768,"height":432},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/screenshot_314_-9dba4.jpg","width":1000,"height":563},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/screenshot_314_-9dba4.jpg","width":1000,"height":563}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000110735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000110735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000110735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000110737,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000110735\/revisions\/2000110737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000110736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000110735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000110735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000110735"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000110735"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000110735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}