The M23 rebel group has provided clarification regarding the thousands of bodies found on the streets of Goma before burial, stating that they belong to soldiers from the DRC government forces and their allies who were killed in battle.
Recent information from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) indicates that around 2,000 bodies have been collected and buried from Goma’s streets. An additional 700 bodies remain in the morgues of various hospitals in the city, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Reports also mention that “many decomposed bodies are still in different areas, particularly at the airport and near Goma prison.”
The DRC government, through its Minister of Communication and spokesperson Patrick Muyaya, recently announced that the bodies being collected in Goma belong to people killed by Rwandan forces, although he provided no evidence to support his claims.
Kinshasa has frequently accused Rwandan forces of fighting alongside the M23 rebels against its national army, often denying the existence of the M23 group altogether.
In a statement posted on his X account, the M23 president refuted the DRC government’s claims that the dead were civilians, asserting that the bodies found on Goma’s streets belonged to government soldiers and their battlefield allies.
He stated: “The Kinshasa administration should stop engaging in shameful debates about the deaths in Goma. The bodies that filled Goma’s streets were collected by health authorities and stored in Goma hospital morgues before being buried. In reality, they were FARDC soldiers and their partners (Wazalendo, FDLR, FDNB, and mercenaries) who fell in battle.”
Bertrand Bisimwa explained that some FARDC soldiers and their allies, who were defeated in battle, refused to comply with the M23’s order to lay down their arms before gathering at Stade de l’Unité.
He continued: “They chose to fight in the middle of Goma city, which resulted in their deaths.”
M23 claims that the bodies of these soldiers have been buried and that the city of Goma is now completely secure.
The group added that no family in Goma is in mourning over the loss of a loved one.
