CONGOLESE TO GOV'T ON M23: 'GIVE US GUNS'

As the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels intensify their attacks in and around the Congolese city of Congo, some citizens are demanding a more robust response from their government and military.

This video shows dozens of citizens marching on 28 January in the capital, Kinshasa, demanding that the government provide weapons so they can defend their homeland from M23 and its Rwandan backers.

'Fatshi [Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi's nickname], just give us the weapons. We will take care of the rest,' the group could be heard chanting in this video.

In the run-up to the 2023 presidential elections, Tshisekedi promised a decisive campaign against the M23 and Rwanda for the atrocities they are committing in eastern DRC. Addressing a December 2023 rally in Kinshasa, just days before Election Day, Tshisekedi promised to march to Kigali if Rwanda continued its aggression. Days earlier, at a rally in Bukavu, on the border with Rwanda, the Congolese president likened his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, to Germany’s Adolf Htler and warned him that he would end up like the Nzi leader if he continued with his ‘expansionist aims.’

However, since assuming his second term in office, Tshisekedi has not taken any such steps, leading many to claim that his tough talk was nothing more than mere campaign rhetoric to win votes in the country's east, the region affected by the Rwandan-instigated insurgency.

However, Tshisekedi insists he has not backtracked from his position but is giving diplomacy a chance. Further, in a March 2024 interview with Radio France and the Wall Street Journal, Tshisekedi said the DRC was prepared to respond to the Rwandan-backed aggression with force if diplomatic activities failed.

Going by the events of the last few days, the diplomacy Tshisekedi referred to has failed.

On 25 January, the British newspaper, the Guardian, reported that large groups of Rwandan soldiers recently crossed into the DRC to help the M23 siege on Goma.

Video credit: @CitoyenBeya (X)

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67669187

https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/news/africa/war-drums-beat-in-drc-tshisekedi-threatens-to-invade-rwanda-4469098

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/le-monde-africa/article/2024/04/02/felix-tshisekedi-president-of-the-drc-rwanda-is-not-the-only-one-responsible-for-the-congo-s-misfortunes_6667092_124.html

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jan/25/rwandan-army-ready-to-invade-drc-and-help-rebels-seize-city

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-68021220