In a recent turn of events in the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the rebel movement known as the Alliance Fleuve Congo/Mouvement du 23 mars (AFC/M23) has officially handed over a group of captured Forces démocratiques pour la libération du Rwanda (FDLR) fighters to the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF). This exchange took place on Saturday, March 1, 2025, at the Grande Barrière border post in the Rubavu district.
According to a statement from the Rwandan Ministry of Defense, initial information gathered from the captives indicates their close collaboration with the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), Wazalendo, the SAMIDRC, and mercenaries. The source also mentioned that other FDLR elements have moved to various locations such as Walikare, Lubero, and Mwenga. However, there is a high likelihood that some remaining FDLR members are still hiding in areas currently occupied by the M23.
In response to these developments, the spokesperson for the FARDC has characterized this action as a tasteless fabrication designed to discredit the FARDC and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces. This also fits into Rwanda’s strategy to justify an invasion of parts of the DRC territory.
“This fabrication is so crude that among the so-called FDLR fighters allegedly captured in the DRC is Patrick Ishimwe, who was already presented by Rwandan media in Kigali on January 22, 2025. Strangely enough, his name miraculously appears on the list of alleged repatriated FDLR fighters in Rwanda this Saturday, listed as number 6. The Rwandan authorities, who have specialized in the art of lies and manipulation, have taken former FDLR members held in the central prison of Gitarama in Rwanda and dressed them in new FARDC military uniforms obtained from the depot to pass them off as captured FDLR fighters in Goma,” denounced Major General Sylvain Ekenge, the FARDC spokesperson in a statement.
The FARDC no longer accepts this “FDLR” narrative. According to Sylvain Ekenge, even the international community is well aware that Rwanda is not sincere on this matter.
“Moreover, according to reliable sources, the infamous FDLR general Gakwerere on the same list has long been in the service of Paul Kagame. It is on Kagame’s instructions that Gakwerere has massacred thousands of Congolese. Despite the fact that the international community is saturated with Rwandan lies and poison, the Rwandan authorities continue to lie,” added the statement.
Furthermore, the FARDC seizes this opportunity to denounce the summary execution by the Rwandan army of sick and war-injured soldiers found in the hospital at the Katindo camp in Goma. This act constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity, offenses that are not subject to statutes of limitations and will never go unpunished.
It is worth noting that the active presence of FDLR in the eastern regions of the DRC bordering Rwanda is one of the reasons cited by the regime of Paul Kagame to justify its troops’ presence alongside the M23, an armed group in the DRC that resumed fighting against the Kinshasa government in 2021.
Ever since its resurgence in the eastern region of the DRC, this political-military movement close to Kigali has taken control of major cities such as Goma and Bukavu. Prior to that, it also occupied vast territories in other areas of the North and South Kivu provinces.