A raw video footage has emerged on social media platforms reinforcing suggestions that combatants from the FDLR militia are fighting alongside DR Congo army in its battle against the M23 rebel group in eastern DR Congo.
FDLR is a terrorist group formed and dominated by remnants from groups blamed for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
The footage, which was reportedly shot and originally shared by a Congolese journalist embedded with the Congolese armed forces FARDC, is said to have been taken last week during clashes in an area near Goma, the capital of DR Congo’s Northern Kivu Province .
In the video, men in military uniform and civilian attire can be heard speaking predominantly Kinyarwanda, with a few Kiswahili words.
Battle command is being given in Kinyarwanda, a language spoken by many in eastern Congo but which is not known to be officially used there on the battlefield.
Amidst gunfire, two fighters can be heard exchanging in Kiswahili on the walkie-talkie: “Mpaka Kigali;” “Mpaka! Mpaka!” (‘Until Kigali’).
At least 10 combatants appear in the video.
Rwanda has for several months now accused the Congolese armed forces FARDC of cooperating with FDLR in the ongoing conflict with the M23 rebels.
The M23 recently claimed they had captured the towns of Kibumba, Ruhunda, Buhumba, Kabuhanga, Tongo, Mulimbi, former strongholds of the FDLR militia.
The M23 says the FARDC has formed a coalition with multiple militias, notably FDLR, Mai-Mai and Nyatura, in the ongoing conflict.
