To Curb M23 Insurgency, DRC Declares Broad Move Of Youth

By Adeyemi Adekunle

The Congolese army has declared openly a mass movement of youth to quell the rebels from the March 23rd Movement, or M23, who are accumulating stability in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The demand was made by the DRC president Félix Tshisekedi for youth militant groups.

At a news conference, a spokesman for DRC Army, Major General Sylvain Ekenge, said: “The nation is under threat and it requires its competent sons and daughters to perform in defending the integrity of the country.

The armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are presently recruiting a huge figure of young people to serve under the flag. As I speak, there are over 2000 of them, only in Goma.”

M23 rebels have occupied new territory in recent weeks and government spokesperson, Patrick Muyaya, said: “Good neighbourliness is not always the message that others pick up, so we must choose deterrence, which is to have a strong army.

“Why not have an army of 500,000 or more Congolese?”

The M23 upswings have displaced over 183,000 people in North Kivu alone since October 20 and destabilized relations in central Africa.

Foreign ministers of the DRC and Rwanda agreed on Saturday to boost efforts to de-escalate frictions and untangle their political crisis with the DRC accusing its smaller neighbor of backing a rebel militia.