Congo-Kinshasa: ICRC Helps Transport Hundreds of Disarmed Members of Government Forces from Goma to Kinshasa

1 May 2025
International Committee of the Red Cross (Geneva)
press release

Goma — On 30 April 2025, following a request to act as a neutral intermediary, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is accompanying a series of convoys from Goma to Kinshasa transporting several hundred disarmed individuals from the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the national police force, as well as members of their families.

All of them have been in Goma at the military base of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in DRC (MONUSCO). Once they arrive in Kinshasa, the authorities will take responsibility for them. The operation will take place over several days.

“Wherever the ICRC operates in the world, we facilitate dialogue between the parties concerned and ensure humanitarian considerations are part of the negotiations, drawing on our long experience,” said François Moreillon, the head of the ICRC’s delegation in the DRC. “Our role as a neutral intermediary can therefore help to resolve complex humanitarian problems by minimising the consequences for populations.”

In this particular case, the ICRC was approached by several actors – notably the DRC’s ministry of defence and veterans, MONUSCO and the Congo Alliance River/M23 Movement (AFC/M23) – to act as a neutral intermediary. The ICRC does not set the terms of the negotiations but offers its services to facilitate the implementation of the operation.

Once the agreement with the ICRC was concluded, the actors concerned made a commitment to ensure the safety of the people in the convoys and to work for the success of the operation. The ICRC also made sure that all the individuals have consented to being transported in the convoys.

In view of the complexity of the operation and the risks associated with it, the ICRC calls for respect for international humanitarian law and a sense of responsibility on the part of all actors.

About the ICRC

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.

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