Two FARDC officers both with a rank of Colonel have been court martialed for enabling the fall of Bunagana border town to M23 rebels.
Brigadier General Chirimwami before the North Kivu military court charged the two FARDC colonels who had abandoned the troops during the capture of Bunagana by the M23 fighters.
“Colonel Lobo of the 21st Brigade of the FARDC was among the officers who had lost control of the troops, wandering on the combat field, before joining the locality of Kitagoma. This officer and his colleague, Colonel Ndiadia, spent all their time in hotels in Bunagana,” Brigadier General Peter Chirimwami told the judges.
This former commander of the Sukola 2 North Kivu operational sector was cited by the defendants Colonels Ndiadia and Lobo as the one who ordered the FARDC troop commanders to withdraw from the front lines, in the face of the advance of M23 fighters towards the city of Bunagana.
During the confrontation in court, the two defendants demonstrated on a map how they withdrew from the theater of operations, due to a lack of material support and troop reinforcements.
The M23 fighters captured Bunagana border post on the morning of Monday 13 June 2022, forcing Congolese soldiers and police to run into Uganda for safety.
Bunagana border, which connects Uganda’s Kisoro district in the south-west part of the country to the DRC’s Rushuru, North Kivu Province, is located 70km north-east of Goma.
After seizing Bunagana, the M23 fighters said that their intention was to have talks with the government.
The fighters said that all they wanted was the government to abide by the existing peace agreement and ensure protection of the communities of Eastern DRC against discrimination and targeted attacks.
