{"id":109922,"date":"2025-09-13T17:17:30","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T17:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/commander-of-dr-congos-33rd-military-region-dies"},"modified":"2025-09-13T17:28:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T17:28:04","slug":"commander-of-dr-congos-33rd-military-region-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/commander-of-dr-congos-33rd-military-region-dies","title":{"rendered":"Commander of DR Congo’s 33rd Military Region Dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>The surprising death, on Friday, September 12, of Brig Gen Daniel Mwaku Mbuluku, the commander of FARDC\u2019s 33rd military region – a vast region covering South Kivu and Maniema provinces – represents a significant loss for the Congolese army coalition, particularly for operations in the volatile east where AFC\/M23 rebels have seized swathes of territory.<\/p>\n

Mwaku\u2019s death came a day after the rebel movement condemned the \u201cbarbaric slaughtering and systematic massacres\u201d of innocent civilians carried out by the Congolese army and its allies \u2013 the Rwandan genocidal militia known as FDLR, Wazalendo militia, foreign mercenaries, and Burundian forces \u2013 of conducting coordinated attacks targeting civilian populations in the region.<\/p>\n

According to a statement by army spokesperson Maj Gen Sylvain Ekenge, Mwaku was struck by a sudden health crisis while on duty and rushed to a hospital in Uvira, the only large city in the east not yet captured by the AFC\/M23 rebels, where he passed away.<\/p>\n

Uvira, situated along Lake Tanganyika approximately 25 kilometers from Bujumbura, Burundi, is South Kivu’s second-largest city after Bukavu which was captured by the rebels in February.<\/p>\n

Mwaku had only been in command of the 33rd military region since July 21 when he was appointed as part of broader military efforts to reassert Kinshasa\u2019s control.<\/p>\n

Uvira had, for the past few days, been rocked with violent protests sparked by the recent appointment of Brig Gen Olivier Gasita as deputy commander of the 33rd military region.<\/p>\n

Wazalendo militia \u2013 a coalition of local militias supported by Kinshasa \u2013 who violently protested his appointment accused Gasita, a Munyamulenge, of being a Tutsi infiltrator.<\/p>\n

It is not yet clear who is now in charge of the 33rd military region after Mwaku\u2019s death and considering the recent violent protests against Gasita, even though reportedly put down following the visit to the area by a delegation from Kinshasa.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. The surprising death, on Friday, September 12, of Brig Gen Daniel Mwaku Mbuluku, the commander of FARDC\u2019s 33rd military region – a vast region covering South Kivu and Maniema provinces – represents a significant loss for the Congolese army coalition, particularly for operations in the volatile east where AFC\/M23 rebels have seized […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":109921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,29,14],"tags":[6999,2542,3644,3520,1012,8051,758,8028],"class_list":["post-109922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-afc-m23","tag-dr-congo","tag-fardc","tag-fdlr","tag-genocide","tag-rebellion","tag-rwanda","tag-uvira"],"yoast_head":"\nCommander of DR Congo's 33rd Military Region Dies - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The surprising death, on Friday, September 12, of Brig Gen Daniel Mwaku Mbuluku, the commander of FARDC\u2019s 33rd military ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/commander-of-dr-congos-33rd-military-region-dies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Commander of DR Congo's 33rd Military Region Dies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The surprising death, on Friday, September 12, of Brig Gen Daniel Mwaku Mbuluku, the commander of FARDC\u2019s 33rd military ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/commander-of-dr-congos-33rd-military-region-dies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-13T17:17:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-13T17:28:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/09\/sm_1757771838.845143.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"602\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/commander-of-dr-congos-33rd-military-region-dies#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/commander-of-dr-congos-33rd-military-region-dies\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Commander of DR Congo’s 33rd Military Region Dies\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-13T17:17:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-13T17:28:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/commander-of-dr-congos-33rd-military-region-dies\"},\"wordCount\":329,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/commander-of-dr-congos-33rd-military-region-dies#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/09\/sm_1757771838.845143.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"AFC\/M23\",\"DR Congo\",\"FARDC\",\"fdlr\",\"Genocide\",\"Rebellion\",\"Rwanda\",\"UVIRA\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/commander-of-dr-congos-33rd-military-region-dies#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/commander-of-dr-congos-33rd-military-region-dies\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/commander-of-dr-congos-33rd-military-region-dies\",\"name\":\"Commander of DR Congo's 33rd Military Region Dies - 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