{"id":53320,"date":"2025-03-09T16:56:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T16:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/fcr-armed-group-abandons-kinshasa-allied-forces-joins-afc-m23\/"},"modified":"2025-03-10T10:48:30","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T10:48:30","slug":"fcr-armed-group-abandons-kinshasa-allied-forces-joins-afc-m23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/fcr-armed-group-abandons-kinshasa-allied-forces-joins-afc-m23\/","title":{"rendered":"FCR armed group abandons Kinshasa allied forces, joins AFC\/M23"},"content":{"rendered":"

The move marks a major shift in the ongoing conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as armed groups realign in response to the evolving situation.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued by AFC\/M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka on Sunday, the group welcomed FCR\u2019s defection, calling on other armed factions, political actors, and Congolese organisations to follow suit.<\/p>\n

“This union strengthens the fight for a free and just Congo,” Kanyuka said, emphasising the rebels\u2019 stated objective of challenging poor governance and decades of marginalisation of minority communities, including Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese in the region.<\/p>\n

\n

La terreur \u00e0 Bukavu ! Des bandits arm\u00e9s font la loi ! Ils entrent maison par maison ! Les habitants apeur\u00e9s crient : "Au voleur au voleur", Bamwiziii… bamwiziii !
Ces bandits m\u00e9ritent une lourde peine de prison pour s'assurer qu'ils ne recommenceront plus ! Le M23 doit tr\u00e8s\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/Kp7KxkwdtG<\/a><\/p>\n

— Rodriguez Malabar (@Katsuva_R) March 6, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The FCR\u2019s defection comes amid mounting pressure on the Congolese government to [negotiate with the rebels->https:\/\/en.igihe.com\/news\/article\/eac-heads-of-state-urge-drc-gov-t-to-directly-engage-m23-at-crisis-summit], especially as AFC\/M23 continues to gain new fighters and expand its territorial control. <\/p>\n

In recent months, the rebels have seized the key cities of Goma and Bukavu after defeating a coalition of government forces, including Wazalendo militias, Nyatura, the FDLR, SADC forces, Burundian army and European mercenaries.<\/p>\n

Despite the escalating situation, the government in Kinshasa has maintained its stance against engaging in dialogue with the rebels. <\/p>\n

Instead, on Saturday, it called for international assistance to arrest three key AFC\/M23 leaders: Corneille Nangaa, the former head of DRC\u2019s electoral commission who now leads the AFC rebel alliance; Sultani Makenga, the military commander of M23; and Bertrand Bisimwa, the M23 political leader. <\/p>\n

The government has offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to the rebel leaders’ capture.<\/p>\n

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

The Common Front for Resistance, better known by its French acronym FCR, has officially joined the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC\/M23), further strengthening the rebel coalition that has seized large parts of North and South Kivu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000083354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-53320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","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":2000083354,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/34whxxu5szkotegvj3p5u5el7y.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/34whxxu5szkotegvj3p5u5el7y.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/34whxxu5szkotegvj3p5u5el7y.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/34whxxu5szkotegvj3p5u5el7y.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/34whxxu5szkotegvj3p5u5el7y.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/34whxxu5szkotegvj3p5u5el7y.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53320","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=53320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000083354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53320"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=53320"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=53320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}