{"id":53521,"date":"2025-03-22T15:48:41","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T15:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/afc-m23-withdraws-from-walikale-city\/"},"modified":"2025-03-22T15:48:27","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T15:48:27","slug":"afc-m23-withdraws-from-walikale-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/afc-m23-withdraws-from-walikale-city\/","title":{"rendered":"AFC\/M23 withdraws from Walikale city"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The group captured Walikale on March 19, 2025, along with the small Kigoma airstrip, following the takeover of nearby areas, including Ngora, Kisima, and Mubanda.<\/p>\n<p>On March 22, AFC\/M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka stated that the withdrawal was a strategic decision aimed at fostering a conducive environment for political dialogue. He declared, \u201cThe AFC\/M23 coalition has decided to withdraw its forces from Walikale City and its surrounding areas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kanyuka urged the city&#8217;s residents and local authorities to take necessary measures to ensure security and protect their property following the group&#8217;s departure.<\/p>\n<p>However, AFC\/M23 warned that if the Congolese government forces resumed attacks on civilians or its positions, it would reconsider its decision and retake the city.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-84076 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/abarwanyi_ba_m23_bari_bagiye_kumara_iminsi_itatu_muri_uyu_mujyi-b84df.jpg\" alt=\"M23 rebels captured Walikale on March 19, 2025.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-84075 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/m23_walikale-23311.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The AFC\/M23 coalition, which opposes the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has announced its withdrawal from Walikale City and its surrounding areas in North Kivu Province.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":2000084074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-53521","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":2000084074,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-473.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-473.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-473.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-473.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-473.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-473.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53521","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\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000084074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53521"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=53521"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=53521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}