{"id":56613,"date":"2025-12-22T11:58:38","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T11:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/goma-residents-protest-afc-m23-withdrawal-from-uvira\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T11:58:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T11:58:51","slug":"goma-residents-protest-afc-m23-withdrawal-from-uvira","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/goma-residents-protest-afc-m23-withdrawal-from-uvira\/","title":{"rendered":"Goma residents protest AFC\/M23 withdrawal from Uvira"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The demonstration drew large crowds, with participants carrying messages calling for lasting peace in the eastern DRC. One placard read: \u201cResidents of Goma and surrounding areas reject the return of AFC\/M23 from Uvira. We also oppose the return of FARDC, Wazalendo, Burundian forces, and militias to Uvira.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Protesters expressed fatigue from years of conflict and called for urgent dialogue to resolve the region\u2019s long-standing disputes.<\/p>\n<p>AFC\/M23 fighters left Uvira on 17 and 18 December after spending a week in the city. The coalition said the withdrawal was made at the request of the United States as a confidence-building measure while peace talks with the DRC government continue.<\/p>\n<p>The group has insisted that neither FARDC, Burundian forces, Wazalendo, nor the FDLR militia should return to Uvira. It has called on the US and other mediators to establish a neutral mechanism to ensure civilian safety.<\/p>\n<p>AFC\/M23 has also proposed that Uvira be designated a neutral zone, free from armed forces or monitored by impartial troops, allowing residents to resume daily activities without fear, unlike the situation under previous government deployments.<\/p>\n<p>Jennifer Locetta, U.S. Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs to the United Nations, indicated last week that AFC\/M23\u2019s request could be implemented in areas within a 75-kilometre radius of Uvira.<\/p>\n<p>If the request is honoured, AFC\/M23 could return to its previous positions, including the Kamanyola centre, before the clashes that erupted in early December 2025.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-99515 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/screenshot_168_-2-19149.jpg\" alt=\"Residents of Goma and neighbouring areas in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) staged a protest on December 22, 2025, against the departure of AFC\/M23 fighters from the city of Uvira.\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Residents of Goma and neighbouring areas in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) staged a protest on December 22, 2025, against the departure of AFC\/M23 fighters from the city of Uvira.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000099516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-56613","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":2000099516,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/screenshot_168_-2-19149.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/screenshot_168_-2-19149.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/screenshot_168_-2-19149.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/screenshot_168_-2-19149.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/screenshot_168_-2-19149.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/screenshot_168_-2-19149.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56613","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=56613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000099516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56613"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=56613"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=56613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}