{"id":55721,"date":"2025-09-23T13:02:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T13:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/fardc-downplays-afc-m23-new-advances-claims-danger-lies-in-katanga-s-fall\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T11:44:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T11:44:42","slug":"fardc-downplays-afc-m23-new-advances-claims-danger-lies-in-katanga-s-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/fardc-downplays-afc-m23-new-advances-claims-danger-lies-in-katanga-s-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"FARDC downplays AFC\/M23 new advances, claims danger lies in Katanga\u2019s fall"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>His remarks came after AFC\/M23 forces took control of Nzibira town in Walungu Territory, South Kivu, on Sunday, September 21, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Brig. Gen. Kapend, who also commands the army in Katanga, said the situation does not pose a major threat as long as Katanga remains untouched.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll the pressure is in eastern DRC. If we fail to stop the enemy there, we will be the first to face its heavy weapons,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that the rebel coalition could expand further without endangering national stability.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey may take over other areas, but as long as they do not take Katanga, the country will endure,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>Heavy fighting between AFC\/M23 and the Congolese army coalition flared again late last week, with clashes reported in Cisaza, Cibanda, Muyange, Karhuliza and Kalongo in South Kivu, as well as in Masisi and Walikale in North Kivu.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-94965 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/png\/eddy_kapend-ed0ef.png\" alt=\"The commander of the 22nd Military Region, Brig. Gen. Eddy Kapend, has downplayed concerns over AFC\/M23 rebels seizing territories in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, saying the real danger would only arise if they captured Katanga Province.\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The commander of the 22nd Military Region, Brig. Gen. Eddy Kapend, has downplayed concerns over AFC\/M23 rebels seizing territories in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, saying the real danger would only arise if they captured Katanga Province.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000094967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-55721","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":2000094967,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/eddy_kapend-ed0eflogo.png","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/png","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/eddy_kapend-ed0eflogo.png","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/eddy_kapend-ed0eflogo.png","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/eddy_kapend-ed0eflogo.png","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/eddy_kapend-ed0eflogo.png","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/eddy_kapend-ed0eflogo.png","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55721","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=55721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000094967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55721"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=55721"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=55721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}