The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has announced a $5 million (£4 million) prize for information leading to the arrest of three rebel commanders who have overrun large swaths of the country’s eastern territory in 2025.
Corneille Nangaa, previously the overseer of DR Congo’s voting system, now directs the Congo River Alliance, a group tied to the M23 rebels. He’s been rallying supporters with speeches in areas his forces dominate.
The $5 million bounty also targets M23 bosses Sultani Makenga and Bertrand Bisimwa.
Last year, a military tribunal convicted the three men in their absence, handing down death penalties for disloyalty to the nation.
A separate $4 million (£3 million) sum is up for grabs for the capture of two exiled journalists and additional people the government calls collaborators.
Catching any of them, though, looks like a long shot right now.
Recently, the national army has been outmatched by rebels backed by Rwanda, who’ve claimed mineral-heavy eastern regions, including major hubs like Goma and Bukavu.
Facing battlefield setbacks, President Félix Tshisekedi is working to drum up worldwide pressure to punish Rwanda for supporting the insurgents.
A report from UN specialists last year estimated that up to 4,000 Rwandan fighters were aiding the M23 on Congolese soil.
Violence has left countless dead—thousands—and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes, leaving them stranded without refuge.
The DR Congo leadership is also pitching a deal to the United States, trading mineral rights for help against the rebels.
The country alleges Rwanda is after its riches, like gold and coltan—materials vital for tech devices such as smartphones and PCs.
“In response to the reports that DR Congo was offering access to the minerals in exchange for military help fighting the M23 rebels, presidential spokeswoman Tina Salama said on X last month that President Tshisekedi was inviting the US ‘whose companies source strategic raw materials from Rwanda, materials that are looted from the DRC and smuggled to Rwanda’ to instead buy them from the Congolese – the ‘rightful owners’.”
Rwanda brushes off claims it’s plundering DR Congo’s wealth. It now owns up to assisting the M23 but says the goal is to keep DR Congo’s chaos from spilling over its borders.
Rwanda also points fingers at DR Congo, accusing it of partnering with a militia linked to the 1994 slaughter of around 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis, in its own genocide.
The M23 rebels and Rwanda’s ruling circle both hail from the Tutsi ethnic group.
DR Congo insists it has no connection to the FDLR, a faction Rwanda brands as a “genocide-driven militia.”
