DRCongo troops said to have surrendered to M23 are escorted to training camp

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(30 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Goma, DRCongo - 30 January 2025
1. Various of DR Congo soldiers, government-allied militia members and police officers standing in trucks after they apparently surrendered to M23 rebels
2. Various of man passing out drinks to surrendered forces
3. Various of surrendered forces waiting and walking in lines
4. SOUNDBITE (Lingala) Corneille Nangaa, one of the political leaders of M23: ++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
“We are sending them to training centres where they will be trained on the importance of the army, and then they will become full members of the revolution.”
5. M23 rebels stand with surrendered forces
6. Surrendered forces stand on truck
7. Various of M23 rebels looking on as surrendered forces are driven in trucks
8. Various of armed M23 rebels


STORYLINE:
Hundreds of Congolese soldiers, members of government-allied militias and police officers were seen piled into trucks guarded by M23 rebels in Goma early Thursday, said to be heading to a training camp to integrate into M23 forces.

M23 rebels escorted the troops - who they said surrendered - to an undisclosed location, some of them singing anti-President Félix Tshisekedi songs.

The Rwanda-backed M23 militia has cemented their control over the eastern city of Goma since entering on Sunday, after taking several surrounding towns in recent weeks.

One of the M23 political leaders, Corneille Nangaa, on Thursday said soldiers who no longer want to fight would be allowed to return to civilian life. But he added that some were ready to join M23.

“We are sending them to training centres where they will be trained on the importance of the army, and then they will become full members of the revolution," he said.

The AP spoke to two men waiting to board the trucks who identified themselves as Congolese soldiers who had surrendered to M23 rebels. Both said they had no other choice but to join the insurgents.

The U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Congo said basic services are largely paralyzed in Goma, a humanitarian hub critical for more than 6 million people displaced by the conflict in eastern Congo.

The rebels said Thursday they want to take their fight to the far-off capital, Kinshasa, in comments that came hours after Tshisekedi called for a massive military mobilization to resist the rebellion.

The M23 rebels are backed by some 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, far more than in 2012 when they first captured Goma.

They are one of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits estimated to be worth $24 trillion that are critical to much of the world’s technology.

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