General Sultani Makenga, M23's military leader, recently sat down for an exclusive interview with Belgian researcher and former senator Alain Destexhe, discussing the group's motivations, the controversy surrounding minerals, accusations of foreign backing, and their vision for Congo's future.
This conversation comes as international pressure mounts for M23 to withdraw from captured territories, including Goma and Bukavu, while sanctions have been imposed on both the group and Rwanda.
Meanwhile, the DRC government accuses Rwanda of fueling the insurgency, a claim Rwanda refutes, instead pointing to Kinshasa's internal governance failures and its alleged collaboration with the FDLR, a group responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
In this candid Q&A, Makenga addresses these accusations head-on, questions the role of MONUSCO, and shares his perspective on what the international community is missing about the crisis in eastern Congo.
AD: Are you calling for MONUSCO's departure because it participated in combat against you?
SM: No, but MONUSCO has deviated from its peacekeeping mission and should remain neutral. Even though MONUSCO fired at us, we are not driven by a spirit of revenge. Once the fight is over, we hold no hatred for former adversaries.
AD: What is your stance on the European Union's request for the reopening of Goma Airport to deliver humanitarian aid?
SM: I support this, but the FARDC (Congolese Armed Forces) destroyed and looted the control tower, and they left fortifications and numerous vehicles on the runways, which we fear might be mined. The (grassy) terrain around the airport might also be mined. Go see for yourself! (AD: I went there, and it will be the subject of a future post on X.)
AD: What is your view on accusations of being Rwanda's puppets?
SM: The Kinshasa regime is looking for a scapegoat for the problems it created or failed to resolve. The Rwandans understand us and try to explain our situation to the world.
They are our neighbors and our brothers, and like us, they have long faced the threat of the FDLR. We also still have hundreds of thousands of refugees in camps in Rwanda who want to return home.
AD: Do you believe Tshisekedi intended to attack Rwanda?
SM: He said it himself. Moreover, given the forces and weapons he had concentrated in Goma and the alliances he formed in the region, particularly with Burundi and the FDLR, it seems obvious to me.
AD: Is FDLR still a threat?
SM: The FDLR members are everywhere in the FARDC, including in the presidential guard. They have been re-equipped and rearmed.
They cannot win a war against us, but they can still attack civilians in our vast area, where villages are spread out.
Three days ago, they killed 40 people in the village of Kirumbu. Furthermore, along with the FARDC, the FDLR are destroying Virunga National Park, which we want to protect.
AD: Some say that minerals are your main objective. What's your response?
SM: Listen! First of all, we spent years in areas where there were no mines at all. When we take control of a place with a mine, like in Rubaya, we do not interfere in any way with the local population's artisanal mining activities, which are organized through cooperatives.
The minerals are then purchased by intermediaries who sell them to companies that export them.
AD: You do not intervene in the trade?
SM: Not at all! (Firm tone). But since we have controlled the border in Goma and Bukavu, we collect customs duties on goodsâ€"at lower rates and without the arbitrariness and corruption that characterize the Kinshasa regime.
AD: What about the sanctions against you and Rwanda?
SM: They are unfair. The truth will eventually come out. When our people are killed, no one cares, and there are no sanctions. But when we react, we are sanctioned.
AD: What is the relationship between the political and military branches of M23?
SM: Bertrand Bisimwa is the president of M23, I am the vice president, and I handle the military branch. We are part of a broader platform, the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), coordinated by Corneille Nangaa.
AD: Life in Goma seems normal, but the banks are closed. Why?
SM: Kinshasa closed the banks. The money deposited in banks does not belong to Tshisekedi but to the clients! He is punishing the population and continuing his plundering from afar.
AD: Is M23 multiethnic?
SM: Our president is Shi, our spokesperson is Luba like Tshisekedi, the deputy spokesperson is Mukongo from Bas-Congo [Lower Congo River] (he lists several names along with their ethnic backgrounds), but we want to build a nation and a state that go beyond these ethnic divisions, which handicap our great country.
AD: What message do you want to send to the international community?
SM: Our struggle is existential. We are fighting for our survival. We want a united, decentralized, and federal Congo that urgently addresses development and governance issues. Have you seen how Congolese people live under Tshisekedi? What has he done for them?
AD: You are a fighter. You spent five years in extremely difficult conditions on the heights of Mount Sabyinyo at the borders of three countriesâ€"Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda. How did you live? In a house?
Sultani Makenga: (Laughs). I will invite you to go see for yourself!
This interview was conducted by Alain DESTEXHE in Goma, DRC, on March 12, 2025. Born on June 19, 1958, Alain Destexhe is a Belgian politician who served as a senator from 1995 to 2011 and as a member of the Brussels Regional Parliament until 2019.
A former member of the liberal Mouvement Réformateur (MR), he also represented Belgium at the World Economic Forum.
In 2006, he was awarded the Prize for Liberty by Nova Civitas. Destexhe held key leadership roles, serving as Secretary-General of Médecins Sans Frontières from 1991 to 1995 and as President of the International Crisis Group from 1997 to October 1999.
IGIHE
