Gen Sultani Makenga, the overall military commander of the AFC/M23 rebel group, has welcomed the development of direct peace talks between rebels and the Congolese government slated for March 18, in Luanda, Angola. ALSO READ: M23-DR Congo govt talks set for March 18 Makenga said this, on March 12, during an interview with Alain Destexhe, a former Belgian senator who has been following closely the situation in eastern DR Congo. “Of course, we want to negotiate, but at this stage we have only learned of Angola's position, but we have not yet heard anything from Kinshasa,” Makenga told Destexhe. The possibility of the talks was announced a day earlier, on Tuesday, after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who had long rejected the proposal for holding direct talks with the rebels, visited his Angolan counterpart João Lourenço, who is also the President of the African Union. General Makenga, leader of the M23, : ‘Tshisekedi is a bandit’. ‘Our fight is for our survival and for the Congo’. Original in French below General Sultani Makenga, the military leader of the March 23 Movement (M23), rarely grants interviews. However, he made an exception for... https://t.co/7IlHgY9ISH pic.twitter.com/qYmz29ZclT — Alain Destexhe (@Destexhe) March 13, 2025 Previous rounds of peace talks on the DR Congo crisis always excluded the rebel movement. But on Tuesday, the Angolan presidency announced that delegations from the Congolese government and the rebels “will begin direct peace negotiations” on March 18. Asked what he thinks of President Félix Tshisekedi, Makenga said that “he [Tshisekedi] has no love for his country, he is a bandit.” The rebel movement has been fighting against injustice, violence, and discrimination targeting Congolese Rwandophones in eastern DR Congo, and has vowed to uproot tribalism, nepotism, corruption, and genocide ideology, among other vices, widespread in DR Congo. ALSO READ: Former Belgian senator tours Goma, challenges Western version of events The ongoing war between a vast Congolese government army coalition that includes FDLR, a DR Congo-based terrorist militia founded by remnants of the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, over 10,000 Burundian troops, 1,600 European mercenaries, South Africa-led SADC forces, as well as UN peacekeepers, all against M23 rebels, started in 2021. The rebels are now part of a larger rebel coalition, Alliance fleuve Congo (AFC) – created in December 2023 – led by Corneille Nangaa, the former president of DR Congo’s national electoral commission (CENI). ‘We are fighting for our survival’ Makenga said that they have no intention to continue the military offensive and advance to Kinshasa unless threatened. “We are fighting for our survival. It must be understood that we took up arms because we were threatened with extermination. We were not going to let ourselves be exterminated without reacting! It's a shame the outside world refuses to see this.” He also gave an example of a village in Nturo, in North Kivu Province’s Masisi territory, that was burned down solely because it was populated mainly by members of the Tutsi community, and emphasized that the main goal is to overcome the ethnic ideology of hatred and promote reconciliation. ALSO READ: DR Congo: Absence of security gave birth to M23 rebellion – Amb. Karega The rebels took control of Goma and Bukavu, two major cities in eastern DR Congo, between late January and February, restoring order and peace in the region as testified by residents. On March 4, after his tour in Goma, Destexhe reported that the city was peaceful as inhabitants went about their businesses in normalcy, trade increased and order was instated to propel people in restoring basic infrastructure such as water and electricity, among other things. However, Makenga noted that taking over Goma and Bukavu wasn’t part of the rebel’s objectives but they were forced to engage given the security threats that the Congolese army and its coalition were imposing. “From Goma, the FARDC and other forces were pounding our positions and the civilian populations under our control. We could no longer tolerate this. Then, the FARDC and Burundian forces were regrouping from Bukavu and receiving supplies from Kavumu airport. So, we had to take Bukavu to eliminate this threat.” He added that the Congolese army continues to attack them with drones from Kisangani, violating the ceasefire agreement.
