AU Facilitators Meet AFC/M23 Leaders in Goma as Army Reports Fresh Defections in North Kivu
African Union facilitators held closed-door talks with AFC/M23 leaders in Goma on Monday as diplomatic efforts to address the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo continued alongside fresh reports of fighter defections and clashes in North Kivu, TOP AFRICA NEWS reports
A delegation of former heads of state arrived in the North Kivu provincial capital, which has remained under AFC/M23 control since early 2025, and met the movement’s political coordinator, Corneille Nangaa, together with his deputies Bertrand Bisimwa and Freddy Kaniki. The visitors included former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, former Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi and former Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde, accompanied by representatives linked to the African Union mediation panel chaired under the broader facilitation of Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé.
The session took place at the AFC/M23 political coordination offices. AFC/M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said the movement received the mission in the framework of efforts toward a political, durable and African-led resolution of the conflict. No joint communiqué or concrete agreements were announced after the meeting. The facilitators were also expected to engage the United Nations mission in the DRC.
The visit forms part of the African Union’s ongoing shuttle diplomacy tied to the Doha dialogue track between Kinshasa and the AFC/M23, which runs alongside the separate Washington process involving the DRC and Rwanda. Both tracks have produced ceasefire understandings and verification mechanisms, yet fighting has persisted on multiple fronts in North and South Kivu. Kinshasa and international observers continue to call for the withdrawal of forces they describe as Rwandan, a charge Kigali and the AFC/M23 reject.
On the military side, Congolese army spokesmen reported that 29 fighters they identified as belonging to the AFC/M23 laid down their arms and crossed to positions held by the FARDC and allied Wazalendo groups between 1 and 4 October in the territories of Lubero, Masisi and Walikale. Several were said to have discarded uniforms before reaching government lines. The same statements claimed that ten additional fighters were captured with their weapons during operations around Remeka, Mohololo, Biriko and Miko. Army officials described many of those who surrendered as young people forcibly recruited in areas under rebel control and urged others still in the ranks to follow.
These reported defections come against a backdrop of continued skirmishes. Congolese military sources said government forces and Wazalendo allies had contained attacks and retaken certain localities in Masisi in recent days, while the overall security situation in Lubero, Masisi and Walikale remains fluid. Separate accounts from South Kivu earlier in the week described dozens of additional defections presented by the army, though independent verification of numbers and circumstances remains limited in active combat zones.
The combination of high-level African mediation in Goma and battlefield reports of surrenders underscores the dual track of diplomacy and attrition that has defined the eastern Congo conflict for months. Humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate in areas affected by displacement, restricted access and overlapping health emergencies, even as facilitators seek to keep political channels open. Further consultations by the African Union panel with regional capitals are expected as the parties assess whether the latest contacts can narrow differences on ceasefire compliance, force dispositions and the root political grievances that have sustained the fighting.
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