AFRICA/DR CONGO - High-ranking military officer forced to leave Uvira due to popular protests

Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides) – General Olivier Gasita, the deputy commander of the 33rd Military Region, in charge of operations and intelligence, was forced to leave Uvira due to protests against him. He left the city in South Kivu yesterday, September 9, at dawn.
On September 8, peaceful demonstrations were organized to force him to resign from his position as head of operations and intelligence of the 33rd Military Region of the Congolese Army (FARDC). These demonstrations were bloodily repressed, resulting in deaths and injuries.
The people of Uvira blame the general for the capture of Bukavu by the AFC/M23 rebels (see Fides, 17/2/2025), alleging that he facilitated their action. The protests were spearheaded by fighters from the "Wazalendo" militia, a local self-defense group that frequently clashes with the command of the regular armed forces, accusing them of colluding with the AFC/M23 rebels and their Rwandan allies.
In a statement sent to Fides, the pro-democracy civil movement "FILIMBI" from Uvira accuses the organizers of the demonstrations of "using the civilian population as a shield for their own selfish interests."
"The demonstration should have taken place according to the instructions of the army, the Wazalendo, and the civil society groups that organized it," the statement continues. FILIMBI accuses the latter of "using the population to sow unrest by exposing them to uncontrolled elements of the armed forces who shot defenseless civilians at close range." According to FILIMBI, the army downplayed the casualties among the protesters, while accusing the organizers of fleeing to Bujumbura, the capital of neighboring Burundi, for fear of reprisals.
Uvira is one of the few towns in the Congolese province of South Kivu still controlled by government troops, while the rest of the province has been captured by AFC/M23 militias with the support of the Rwandan military. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 10/9/2025)

Share:

civil society

---

---

violence

---

---