Prudent (Prud) Zihalirwa, a young entrepreneur from the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, continues his DR Congo Diary, following on from his earlier blog on our Blog Pages.
He is Youth Ambassador for the Panzi Foundation, promoting social justice in vulnerable communities, and founder and trainer at Afrix Global, an EdTech start-up based in Goma. This is his latest diary of living in conflict…
Goma Under Siege: Chronicle of Daily Life Under Armed Occupation By Prud Zihalirwa – (Prudzihalirwa@gmail.com)
June 2025 – Democratic Republic of the Congo
Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province in eastern Congo, is living through one of the darkest chapters in its recent history. For nearly five months, the city has been under the occupation of M23 rebels—an armed group accused of war crimes and backed militarily by Rwanda, according to the United Nations.
No flights land, no banks operate.
The airport is closed. Financial institutions have shut down. The local economy is suffocating. But the gravest threat is the daily insecurity, fuelled by armed banditry that the local population overwhelmingly attributes to the rebels now entrenched in several strategic neighbourhoods.
June 16 & 20: Two Deaths, Two Faces, One Shared Tragedy
June 16: Luc, a young airtime vendor, was shot at point-blank range near the Katindo mosque. Witnesses say the assailants bore visible signs identifying them as rebels.
June 20: Florentin, a father of three and a local money changer, was gunned down in broad daylight at Mutinga Station in the Karisimbi commune. He was targeted in a brutal armed robbery carried out by men in civilian clothes riding motorbikes.
These killings add to a long list of targeted attacks, kidnappings, sexual assaults, and lootings in areas under M23 control. For Goma’s residents, fear has become routine. Justice, a distant dream.
Courage Canonized: The Beatification of Floribert Bwana Chui
Amid the sorrow, June 15, 2025, offered a rare moment of light. In Rome, Floribert Bwana Chui, a Goma native and civil servant murdered in 2007 for refusing to allow spoiled goods into the country, was beatified at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.
Floribert is now the third Congolese to be beatified by the Catholic Church, and the first from the city of Goma. He joins Blessed Anuarite Nengapeta, another symbol of Christian martyrdom in the DRC. His sacrifice recognized as having died “in hatred of the faith” is a powerful call for moral courage in a nation torn by corruption and violence.
Dialogue or Complicity? MONUSCO Sparks Controversy
On June 12 and 13, Bintou Keita, Head of MONUSCO (the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC), visited Goma and met with leaders of the M23/AFC rebel alliance, despite mounting outrage from the public.
While the visit was authorized by Congolese authorities and framed as part of civilian protection efforts, many locals saw it as legitimizing terror and normalizing impunity. For a population under occupation, such dialogue feels more like betrayal than diplomacy.
June 10: Honouring the Legacy of Luc Nkulula
On June 10, Goma’s civil society commemorated the death of Luc Nkulula, a pro- democracy activist from the Lucha movement, who was burned alive in his home in 2018. His killers remain unpunished. Yet his memory continues to inspire peaceful resistance.
Founded in 2012, Lucha (Lutte pour le Changement) is a youth-led citizens’ movement that promotes human dignity, social justice, and fundamental rights through strictly non-violent means. Despite arrests, threats, and assassinations, its members persist.
Goma Between Darkness and Light Today, Goma is encircled but not broken.
The city resists through prayer, silent vigils, living memories, and daily acts of survival and solidarity.
Through the legacies of Floribert Bwana Chui and Luc Nkulula, Goma reminds the world that human dignity cannot be extinguished even under the shadow of war.
Let us not look away. Let us not be silent.