M23 Rebels Close In on Key DRC Town as Government Offers $5M Bounty for Leaders

Updated by Anastasios Gordon Sekandi at 04:02 EAT Monday 10 March 2025

Rebel fighters are pushing toward the critical town of Walikale, intensifying the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) ongoing conflict as government forces face internal defections and escalating violence.

Corneille Nangaa has addressed large rallies in cities captured by the M23. *Courtesy Photo*.

The M23 armed group has advanced further into the country’s mineral-rich east after capturing Goma and Bukavu — the capitals of North and South Kivu provinces — in a series of swift offensives.

Security sources told a local media that the Rwanda-backed rebels recently entered Nyabiondo village, about 100 km (62 miles) north of Goma, along the road to Walikale, a town crucial to the government’s mining revenue.

“Walikale is very important for the government as it is the only place where the government has the industrial mine from which they are getting millions of tax payments,” said a local media from Goma.

Government Forces Weakened by Defections

In a blow to government efforts, the Group Kabido — an armed faction previously allied with state forces — announced it had joined M23. The group, active in eastern DRC for decades, had fought alongside the army for the last three years but now accuses the Kinshasa government of mismanagement.

“This is showing the disorganisation within the DRC army, and the M23 is taking advantage of this situation on the ground,” Uaykani said, noting that a second armed group defected shortly after.

Critical Threats marked in Red, 5 March 2025. *Courtesy Image*.

Humanitarian Crisis Deepens

The conflict has wreaked havoc on civilian infrastructure, with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reporting multiple attacks on hospitals and schools.

“Between March 1 and 3, several hospitals were targeted by armed actors in an escalation of violence against medical centres and health personnel,” OCHA stated. The fighting has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, with more than 100,000 newly uprooted in Lubero to the north.

Government Offers $5M Reward for Rebel Leaders

As the situation deteriorates, DRC authorities have announced a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of key rebel leaders: Corneille Nangaa, Bertrand Bisimwa, and Sultani Makenga.

Nangaa, a former head of the DRC’s Independent National Electoral Commission, now leads the Congo River Alliance (AFC), a political-military coalition tied to the M23. Bisimwa serves as the M23’s political head, while Makenga commands its military wing.

Tried and sentenced to death in absentia in August 2024, the three leaders remain at large. The government is also offering $4 million for information leading to the arrest of their accomplices.

A view shows the remains of a vehicle hit by heavy and light weapons before Goma fell to M23 rebels, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). *Courtesy Photo*.

Regional Tensions Escalate

More than 7,000 people have been killed in eastern DRC since January, with civilians making up a significant portion of the casualties. The M23, one of over 200 armed groups operating in the region, resumed its insurgency in 2021 after a decade-long lull, rapidly seizing territory in North Kivu.

A UN panel of experts and the United States accuse Rwanda of backing the M23 — an allegation Kigali denies. However, the rebels’ rapid advances and the crumbling state of the Congolese military raise fears of a broader regional conflict.