DRC Government Denounces Repression Ahead of Planned Goma Protest

Goma, DRC - January 2, 2026 On the eve of a planned citizens’ march in Goma, scheduled for Friday, January 2, 2026, the Congolese government has denounced what it describes as a climate of repression and intimidation in areas under occupation. In a statement, Patrick Muyaya, Government Spokesperson and Minister of Communication and Media, said residents of Goma are facing arbitrary arrests, intimidation, and preventive repression, measures he claims are aimed at preventing any peaceful expression of dissent. According to the minister, these actions have created what he called a “climate of terror.” Muyaya also pointed to similar incidents in Sake, where several young people reportedly disappeared after participating in demonstrations last December against what he described as Rwandan occupation. “These events confirm the Congolese people’s total rejection of the occupation,” Muyaya said, adding that civilians are exhausted by what he described as abuses, torture, and massacres. He expressed the government’s solidarity with the victims of repression and with civilian populations living in affected areas. Despite the reported crackdown, the government spokesperson said the population continues to resist and voice opposition, pledging that such resistance will persist until the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Congolese territory. Muyaya further accused Rwanda and the M23 of attempting to export methods of repression, intimidation, imprisonment, and the suppression of freedoms into the DRC, stressing that “coercion can generate neither legitimacy nor popular support.”