Nearly 300 mercenaries from Europe surrender as DRC’s Goma falls to rebels

Approximately 288 European mercenaries fighting for the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) laid down their arms during the March 23 Movement's (M23) taking of the Congolese city of Goma, having since been in Rwanda, The New Times reported.

The Rwandan newspaper noted that the majority of the mercenaries were Romanian citizens. They are now in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, and are getting ready to go home.

According to the AFP news agency, Congolese servicemen abandoned their positions in the city of Goma and the adjacent territories, shedding their military uniforms as they fled. The agency said that there has been almost no gunfire reported in the city on Wednesday, since the M23 rebels and Rwandese troops have it under nearly complete control.

On January 26, rebel units of the March 23 Movement, backed by Rwandan forces, entered Goma. In a number of neighborhoods in the city, there is ongoing fighting against defending DRC army units. The M23 was created in 2012 by defectors from the Congolese army. M23 members, most of them Tutsi fighters, began fighting in eastern DRC in January 2021. They have since captured several towns and more than 100 villages in North Kivu. The DRC government accuses Rwanda of supporting the rebels.