Goma, 8 November 2013 – A joint official delegation from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO) and the Armed Forces of the DR Congo (FARDC) undertook an assessment mission to the hilly locality of Chanzu on 5 November 2013, a day after the FARDC recaptured the area from the M23 rebel movement.

The joint mission was led by the MONUSCO Force Commander, General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz, the Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) Commander, General James Mwakibolwa, and the Commander of the North Kivu’s FARDC 8th Military Region, Major General Lucien Bahuma.
After almost two weeks of intense fighting, the hills of Chanzu, the M23’s last bastion, were captured on 5 November. It took more than three hours for the joint MONUSCO-FARDC delegation to reach Chanzu. Along the road running through the locality of Mbuzi, a few dead bodies were still lying on the ground, some of them beheaded, and unexploded ordnance could also be seen. The last bridge, located at a distance of 7 km from Chanzu, had been blown up by the rebels. So the delegation had to walk under heavy rain to reach Chanzu. Once on the top of Chanzu’s highest hill, which M23 military leader Sultani Makenga had used as his headquarters, the delegation saw how well-organized this rebel group had been. All military facilities, including a field hospital and a jail, dozens of vehicles had been burned down, while hundreds of tons of ammunitions, kept in bunkers, had been left behind by the M23 rebels in their flight. FARDC troops were now deployed all over the place and for the first time, after a year of consecutive defeats, they were proudly walking around with large smiles on their faces.

MONUSCO Force Commander, General Santos Cruz, depicts what he saw in Chanzu: “it is a total victory, the FARDC regained full control of all areas formerly occupied by the M23 rebels and the people are returning to their villages. I saw the abandoned positions by M23 rebels. There is a large amount of ammunition, heavy weapons, and mortars abandoned by the rebels, dozens of trucks they have destroyed before fleeing”. ......“On our side, we have acted according to MONUSCO mandate which is the protection of civilians and the neutralization of armed groups. We used our firepower as a back up to support the FARDC in their operations”

As the members of the joint delegation rode back to Goma, the jubilant population of Rutshuru territory was singing and waving at them, enjoying its newfound freedom of movement for the first time since the rebels’ uprising in North Kivu in 2012.Clara Padovan/MONUSCO