{"id":81307,"date":"2026-02-27T22:45:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T22:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/m23-warlord-sultani-makenga-reportedly-dies-in-hospital"},"modified":"2026-02-27T22:53:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T22:53:25","slug":"m23-warlord-sultani-makenga-reportedly-dies-in-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/m23-warlord-sultani-makenga-reportedly-dies-in-hospital","title":{"rendered":"M23 Warlord Sultani Makenga Reportedly Dies in Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. <\/strong><\/span>KAMPALA \u2014 Shockwaves are rippling across the Great Lakes region after the rebel group March 23 Movement (M23) claimed its longtime battlefield commander Sultani Makenga has DIED from injuries in Kampala.<\/p>\n<p>In a dramatic communique\u0301 from Goma dated February 25, the rebels say Makenga was wounded on February 24 and later succumbed to his injuries at a Ugandan hospital.<\/p>\n<p>The statement, signed by Chief of Staff Alumba Lukamba Omokoko, describes Makenga\u2019s death as a \u201chuge loss\u201d to their so-called revolutionary struggle.<\/p>\n<p>But here\u2019s the twist \uf440 \u2014 there is STILL NO independent confirmation from Kinshasa, regional mediators, or the United Nations.<\/p>\n<p>\uf4a5 DRONE STRIKE DRAMA<\/p>\n<p>Makenga\u2019s reported death comes just days after a deadly drone strike near Rubaya that killed M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma.<\/p>\n<p>Sources say Makenga was near the blast zone when the strike happened. Was he critically wounded there? Was he secretly evacuated to Kampala? The full story remains murky.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, M23 is accusing the Kinshasa government of violating the Doha peace framework \u2014 escalating tensions even further.<\/p>\n<p>\u2694\ufe0f WHO WAS MAKENGA?<\/p>\n<p>Born in Rutshuru, North Kivu, Makenga wasn\u2019t just another commander. He was widely seen as the military backbone of M23\u2019s operations in eastern DR Congo for over a decade.<\/p>\n<p>If confirmed, his death could:<\/p>\n<p>\uf525 Shake up M23\u2019s command structure<\/p>\n<p>\uf4a3 Intensify factional power struggles<\/p>\n<p>\uf54a\ufe0f Complicate fragile ceasefire talks<\/p>\n<p>\uf30d Shift the entire trajectory of the eastern Congo conflict<\/p>\n<p>For now, it\u2019s a waiting game. No official word yet from the Congolese government.<\/p>\n<p>Is this the end of an era for M23 \u2014 or the beginning of a new, more dangerous chapter?<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Zambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zambia. KAMPALA \u2014 Shockwaves are rippling across the Great Lakes region after the rebel group March 23 Movement (M23) claimed its longtime battlefield commander Sultani Makenga has DIED from injuries in Kampala. In a dramatic communique\u0301 from Goma dated February 25, the rebels say Makenga was wounded on February 24 and later succumbed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":81306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-81307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-zambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>M23 Warlord Sultani Makenga Reportedly Dies in Hospital - Zambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"KAMPALA \u2014 Shockwaves are rippling across the Great Lakes region after the rebel group March 23 Movement (M23) claimed it ...\" \/>\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\/zambia\/all-news\/m23-warlord-sultani-makenga-reportedly-dies-in-hospital\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"M23 Warlord Sultani Makenga Reportedly Dies in Hospital\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"KAMPALA \u2014 Shockwaves are rippling across the Great Lakes region after the rebel group March 23 Movement (M23) claimed it ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/m23-warlord-sultani-makenga-reportedly-dies-in-hospital\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-27T22:45:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-27T22:53:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/02\/sm_1772232615.945166.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\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=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/m23-warlord-sultani-makenga-reportedly-dies-in-hospital#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/m23-warlord-sultani-makenga-reportedly-dies-in-hospital\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"M23 Warlord Sultani Makenga Reportedly Dies in Hospital\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-27T22:45:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-27T22:53:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/m23-warlord-sultani-makenga-reportedly-dies-in-hospital\"},\"wordCount\":280,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/m23-warlord-sultani-makenga-reportedly-dies-in-hospital#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zambia\/sites\/35\/2026\/02\/sm_1772232615.945166.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/m23-warlord-sultani-makenga-reportedly-dies-in-hospital#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/m23-warlord-sultani-makenga-reportedly-dies-in-hospital\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zambia\/all-news\/m23-warlord-sultani-makenga-reportedly-dies-in-hospital\",\"name\":\"M23 Warlord Sultani Makenga Reportedly Dies in Hospital - 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