(16 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bukavu, DRC – 16 February 2025
1. Bernard Maheshe Byamungu, an M23 leader, and fighters standing before a small group of Bukavu residents, UPSOUND (Swahili) Bukavu residents: “Go all the way to Kinshasa!”, Byamungu: “You want us to go all the way to Kinshasa?”
2. Bukavu residents filming Byamungu as he stands in front of the South Kivu governor’s office
3. SOUNDBITE (Swahili) Bernard Maheshe Byamungu, a M23 leader:
“When the old regime was in power it was a jungle. It’s been 60 years that you’ve been living in this. 60 years is too much. We are going to clean up the disorder left over from the old regime. We know this will take time. If we work together, it’s possible."
4. Byamungu and M23 fighters walking on the street in front of the South Kivu governor’s office in central Bukavu, UPSOUND (Swahili) Byamungu: "Peace"
5. SOUNDBITE (French) Arsene Banabesha Cishugi, Bukavu resident:
“He told us that there will be no problems, that for people who are hungry or for people who have money in the bank, there will be no problems in the days to come. They will tell us how to proceed. We complained about the lack of food, because there is famine at the moment. He reassured us that from Monday there will be change.”
6. Various of M23 rebels riding on a military vehicle on the street in front of the South Kivu governor’s office
STORYLINE:
An M23 leader, surrounded by armed rebel fighters, promised to restore order to east Congo’s second largest city after the Rwanda-backed group entered the central part of Bukavu Sunday morning.
Bernard Maheshe Byamungu, who is on the UN Security Council sanctions list for human rights abuses, including extrajudicial executions, said that Congolese citizens had been living in a “jungle” as he stood in front of the South Kivu governor’s office.
“It’s been 60 years that you’ve been living in this. 60 years is too much. We are going to clean up the disorder left over from the old regime,” he said.
Bukavu, a city of about 1.3 million people, lies 63 miles (101 kilometers) south of Goma, the region’s largest city that was taken by the rebels last month.
A group of Bukavu residents looked on, cheering and filming Byamungu with their cell phones. Some told Byamungu to “go all the way to Kinshasa”.
M23 marched through the center of Bukavu Sunday morning while military vehicles transported others through town to cheers from onlookers.
Arsene Banabesha Cishugi, a Bukavu resident, said that he felt reassured by Byamungu’s promises to lower the price of gas and make food more accessible.
“We complained about the lack of food, because there is famine at the moment. He reassured us that from Monday there will be change,” he said.
M23, backed by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of Congo’s mineral-rich east.
The rebellion has killed at least 2,000 people in and around Goma and left hundreds of thousands of displaced stranded, the U.N. and Congolese authorities have said.
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