North Kivu : M23 installs its administration in the province

The M23 installed the new administration in the province of North Kivu on Thursday, which it largely occupies. Corneille Nangaa, head of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) to which the armed group is affiliated, promised « a responsible administration that must be accountable ». The new masters were sworn in on Friday. INFO SOS Médias Burundi
Hundreds of thousands of residents of Goma, the capital of North Kivu, had gathered at the stadium of this main city in eastern Congo to listen to the message of the « new masters ». The former president of the Independent National Electoral Commission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, CENI, known for his art of speaking, harangued the crowd.
« Children of Goma, do you want us to stop there? » he said to the cheers of the gathering, which responded as one man, « Go to Kinshasa (capital of Congo) ».
Bahati Musanga Joseph, alias Erasto, until now advisor to the military coordinator of the M23, is the new provincial governor.
He had been announced dead in combat a few months ago, but resurfaced and distinguished himself by many communications during several appearances the day after the capture of Goma, on January 27.
Speaking in Kinyarwanda, the new governor said he had identified three main threats to the security of his subjects : « former prisoners who were released by Congolese authorities as the M23 fighters were preparing to enter the city of Goma, local militias maintained by Congolese authorities commonly known as ‘the Wazalendo’ and finally the Hutu genocidaires-FDLR (Rwanda Liberation Forces) ».
The new governor of one of the regions very rich in minerals in Congo, will be assisted by Minani Ngarambe Willy, vice-governor in charge of political, administrative and legal matters and Amani Bahati Shadrack, in charge of economic and financial matters in particular.
The Congo Fleuve Alliance has also announced other appointments. They concern the administrators of the occupied territories or the mayor of the city of Goma in the person of Julien Katembo.
Territories of Masisi, Rutshuru, Nyiragongo, and the rural district of Kibumba in the territory of Lubero in North Kivu also have new administrators – who were officially presented to the local population on Thursday.
Corneille Nangaa promised the inhabitants of the zones under occupation that they have nothing to fear for the moment and that administrative representatives in conflict with the law will have to answer for their actions.
This comes just a few days after the appointment by President Félix Tshisekedi of a new military governor of North Kivu, Major General Kakule Somo Évariste. He is based in Beni near the province of Ituri. He replaced Major General Peter Cirimwami who was killed by the M23 before the capture of Goma.
« We must find a lasting solution to this crisis. We are going to witness total chaos. Where have you seen a province run by two governors in the world! It’s a joke, » said a Goma resident who attended the swearing-in of the new administrative team of North Kivu.
Rebels are installing a parallel administration while this weekend, the heads of state and government of the East African Community (EAC) and the SADC (Southern African Development Community) participated in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania in a joint summit on the Congolese crisis.
The M23 is a former Tutsi rebellion that took up arms again at the end of 2021, accusing authorities of not having respected their commitments on the reintegration of its fighters. Congolese authorities remain convinced that it benefits from support from Rwanda, which the Rwandan government continues to dismiss out of hand. The DRC is a member of both blocs at a time when Rwanda is part of the EAC.
« It is time to mediate. It is time to end this crisis. It is time to make peace. The stakes are too high, » UN chief António Guterres said in a lively press briefing at UN headquarters in New York on Thursday.
« My message is clear : Silence the guns. Stop the escalation. Respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Uphold international human rights law and international humanitarian law, » he addressed the stakeholders.
« There is no military solution. It is time for all signatories to the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the DRC and the Region to honour their commitments, » the UN Secretary-General insisted. Félix Tshisekedi was represented by Congolese Prime Minister Judith Suminwa.
On January 29, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi also did not participate in a virtual conference of his EAC peers, even though he had promised to William Ruto, the Kenyan president who also holds the one-year rotating presidency of the EAC. The two men have particularly tense relations.