A senior member of the FDLR militia identified as Mutayomba was severely wounded during recent fighting with AFC/M23 rebels in Masisi Territory in eastern DR Congo, reports said on Sunday, May 31.
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He was wounded during recent military operations around Rubaya, a strategic mining area in North Kivu that has witnessed fierce clashes involving the AFC/M23 movement and government forces with the allied coalition. Initial reports had said he was killed.
Mutayomba is accused of playing a key role in attacks targeting Banyamulenge and other Congolese Tutsi communities in eastern DR Congo.
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FDLR is a militia founded by elements linked to the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Operating from eastern DR Congo for decades, the group has repeatedly been accused of carrying out cross-border attacks against Rwanda, spreading an anti-Tutsi ideology and violence.
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According to reports, Mutayomba is a Rwandan who fled to DR Congo in the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and later rose through the ranks of armed groups active in North Kivu. His brother, Nzima, who reportedly operated alongside him, was killed in January 2025.
https://x.com/coulibalybojana/status/2061058411077222744?s=48
Reports indicate that Mutayomba&039;s faction included FDLR fighters as well as Congolese youth. The Nyatura group is said to receive logistical and military support, including weapons and ammunition, from Congolese armed forces.
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Commenting on reports of Mutayomba's injuries, Willy Manzi, the Vice Governor of North Kivu, described the militia leader as a figure whose name had become associated with violence and suffering in Masisi.
"Mutayomba's legacy is one of destruction. He killed civilians, looted communities, slaughtered livestock belonging to the people of Masisi, and reduced homes and entire villages to ashes," Manzi wrote in a post on X, on Sunday.
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Manzi also criticized what he described as the protection and support allegedly extended to Mutayomba despite accusations of abuses against civilians.
"The self-proclaimed 'General' Mutayomba was not a career military officer. He went from mining sites to calling himself a general and became an FDLR commander," he said.