The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) have urged soldiers under the control of the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN), formerly known as the M23 Movement/Alliance Fleuve Congo (M23/AFC), to abandon the rebel group and return to government forces.
The appeal comes amid reports of defections from the FARDC to the FRN, including that of Brigadier General François Kamanzi, the FARDC operations commander for the 12th Military Region in Kongo-Central Province. The FRN announced on Tuesday night that Kamanzi had joined its ranks.
The group also released a photograph purportedly showing Kamanzi in North Kivu alongside Willy Manzi Ngarambe, the FRN-appointed Deputy Governor of North Kivu, and another commander whose identity was not immediately established.
Kamanzi’s reported defection follows claims that seven FARDC officers, including four colonels, two lieutenant colonels and one captain, as well as seven lieutenants and 635 other soldiers, joined the FRN through Nzibira in South Kivu Province on Tuesday, October 28, 2026.
Other reported defections include that of Colonel Dem Umba Ndolo Ghislain, the second-in-command responsible for operations and intelligence in the 61st Infantry Brigade based in Nyunzu. Lieutenant Lemba Lula Arnold, who was attached to the Republican Guard (GR), has also reportedly joined the rebel group.
In a statement issued on Wednesday evening, FARDC spokesperson Major General Sylvain Ekenge Bomusa Efomi called on Congolese soldiers and other security personnel held in rebel-controlled areas to abandon the movement and rejoin the national army.
Ekenge also appealed to young Congolese who, according to the FARDC, had been forcibly recruited and were being used as cannon fodder by the Rwandan army and its AFC/M23 auxiliaries, now operating under the FRN name, to return home.
He specifically urged members of the Congolese Defence and Security Forces who were captured following the fall of Goma and Bukavu and remain under rebel control to return to government forces.
Ekenge said the affected personnel had witnessed firsthand that the promises made by the rebel movement were unlikely to be fulfilled. He accused the group of promising them a better life and future but instead turning them into “slaves in their own country” and using them to advance Rwanda’s interests.
The FARDC spokesperson further accused the FRN of deploying Congolese soldiers against their fellow citizens and exploiting the country’s natural resources for the benefit of others.
He said the alleged suffering the soldiers had endured at the hands of the Rwandan army should strengthen their resolve to abandon what he described as a criminal group and surrender to the Congolese Defence and Security Forces.
Ekenge urged the soldiers to reclaim their national pride, patriotism and loyalty to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He described serving under the Rwandan army, turning weapons against one’s homeland and attacking fellow citizens as acts of betrayal that the country and future generations would not forgive.
He also called on the soldiers to seize any opportunity to turn against what he described as the aggressor, leave the rebel ranks and rejoin the FARDC with their weapons.
Ekenge assured them that they would be welcomed and treated well if they returned, arguing that they had everything to gain by rejoining the national army and everything to lose by remaining alongside what he described as Rwandan forces and Congolese traitors.
Following its restructuring from the M23/AFC movement into the FRN, the rebel group announced plans to expand its military campaign to other parts of the country, including the capital, Kinshasa. It has said its objective is to overthrow President Félix Tshisekedi’s government.
The FRN had not responded to the FARDC appeal by Wednesday evening.