At least 48 civilians were killed on Wednesday August 30 in Goma during a military operation to prevent a demonstration against the UN in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to an internal document of the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC), consulted by AFP. According to this report, seventy-five people were also injured on the protesters side as well as a police officer killed.
The demonstration, which had been banned by the town hall of Goma, had been initiated at the end of August by a sect mixing Christian and animist rites, called Judaic and Messianic natural faith towards the nations. Met in their temple by AFP on Tuesday, the leaders of the movement had indicated that they had identified the homes of the staff of the UN mission in the DRC (Monusco) and declared that they were ready to loot their homes.
The document states that “a few bladed weapons [were] seized” and that 168 people were arrested “including [including] the guru” Efraimu Bisimwa, organizer of the demonstration. The previous official toll, given on Wednesday by army spokesman in Goma, Lieutenant-Colonel Guillaume Ndjike, was six protesters killed and one police officer “stoned to death”.
« Carnage »
In two videos filmed in a district of Goma and widely shared on social networks, we see soldiers wearing the uniform of an elite unit throwing a dozen lifeless bodies into the back of a military vehicle. Some corpses are dragged on the ground and covered in blood.
“The number of victims of the carnage carried out by the army against unarmed civilians demanding the departure of MONUSCO [UN mission in the DRC] yesterday [Tuesday] in Goma is close to fifty,” said the Fight for Change (Lucha), a pro-democracy movement born in Goma and very active in the DRC. “Other bodies are notably hidden in the Katindo camp military hospital”, located in the center of the city, added the Lucha movement on X (ex-Twitter).
One of the leaders of the Lucha movement, Bienvenu Matumo, in a video sent to AFP denounced this “carnage” of “more than fifty civilians”. Another pro-democracy activist, Jack Sinzahera, accuses the FARDC of carrying out “an assault on the sect’s radio station where they “killed the host and her five guests”, then “went to the church where they shot fifty-six people”. Both activists demanded independent investigations into the killings.
On Wednesday, Lieutenant-Colonel Guillaume Ndjike, speaking in a video in front of around 20 people who were apparently under arrest, said that “these people [members of the sect] are playing the game of enemy and are manipulated and drugged”.
