{"id":54985,"date":"2025-07-23T11:33:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T11:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/afc-m23-thwarts-wazalendo-attack-in-goma\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T11:35:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T11:35:38","slug":"afc-m23-thwarts-wazalendo-attack-in-goma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/afc-m23-thwarts-wazalendo-attack-in-goma\/","title":{"rendered":"AFC\/M23 thwarts Wazalendo attack in Goma"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On the night of July 21 to 22, 2025, Wazalendo fighters\u2014believed to have emerged from Virunga National Park\u2014launched coordinated assaults in the Mugunga area and the Rusayo locality.<\/p>\n<p>Gunfire echoed for nearly three hours as AFC\/M23 forces engaged the attackers in an effort to neutralize the threat to Goma\u2019s security. Residents in neighborhoods such as Ndosho and Kyeshero reported hearing heavy gunfire and expressed fear that the violence might reach their communities. <\/p>\n<p>However, AFC\/M23 forces successfully pushed back the Wazalendo fighters before dawn.<\/p>\n<p>The coalition has maintained control of Goma since January 2025. On July 22, Manzi Willy, the North Kivu governor appointed by AFC\/M23, reaffirmed their commitment to safeguarding the city.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur security forces remain steadfast and dedicated to the mission of eliminating criminal elements seeking to disrupt the safety of our people,\u201d Manzi stated.<\/p>\n<p>He further revealed that, following the coalition\u2019s takeover of Goma, opposing forces had hidden weapons, ammunition, grenades, and other explosives among the civilian population. <\/p>\n<p>According to Manzi, AFC\/M23 continues to uncover and dismantle these threats on a daily basis.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-91355\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/abarwanyi_ba_afc_m23_bagenzura_umujyi_wa_goma_kuva_muri_mutarama-21ec3-2.jpg\" alt=\"The AFC\/M23 coalition has repelled an attack by Wazalendo armed groups, reportedly backed by the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), on the western outskirts of Goma.\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The AFC\/M23 coalition has repelled an attack by Wazalendo armed groups, backed by the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), on the western outskirts of Goma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":2000091354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-54985","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":2000091354,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/m23_goma_in-15c64.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/m23_goma_in-15c64.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/m23_goma_in-15c64.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/m23_goma_in-15c64.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/m23_goma_in-15c64.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/m23_goma_in-15c64.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54985","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\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000091354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54985"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=54985"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=54985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}