In March 2025, the Congolese army and its allied forces destroyed aircraft at Minembwe airfield that were smuggling munitions and military equipment from Bukavu into Minembwe to resupply the Twirwaneho and RED-Tabara. These are two of the many rebel groups operating within and from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
As a result of ongoing conflicts, armed and rebel group activities and the involvement of government elements, there is an abundance of illegal weapons circulating in the eastern DRC. The spread of small arms and light weapons in this region began in the mid-1990s when they were smuggled across the Uganda and Rwanda borders into the DRC to support rebellions against Kinshasa during the two Congo wars.
This has fuelled unprecedented levels of violence, leading to the death of 12 million Congolese over the last 30 years. These killings continue to be carried out by various armed groups, including the M23.
The M23 incursion into Bunagana via Ntamugenga in 2022, and the capture of Goma and Bukavu and advancement towards Uvira earlier in 2025, saw an increased circulation of weapons closer to Lake Tanganyika.
This was driven by three factors. First, soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) discarded their weapons and gear as they retreated from the advancing M23.
Second, the Wazalendo rebel coalition and local youth, committed to stemming the M23’s advance, forcefully disarmed deserting FARDC soldiers fleeing from Kalemie across Lake Tanganyika on commandeered vessels. The DRC government has provided the Wazalendo and other self-defence groups, such as the Fuliru and Bembe, with weapons and ammunition because of their proven ability to thwart the M23’s advancements.
Third, armed groups in the Tanganyika region – such as the Mai-Mai Yakutumba and Mai-Mai Makanaki – are actively involved in organised crimes such as illegal tax collection rackets, controlling artisanal mines, mineral smuggling and piracy. Weapons are crucial for the activities of these two large rebel groups, which are based in the Tanganyika and southern parts of South Kivu provinces respectively.
AK-47s are the most common weapon sold in the DRC. Justin Muhindo, an activist with civil society movement Lutte pour le Changement, told ENACT that in parts of Sake, AK-47 rifles were going for ‘as little as US$30.’
Arms smuggling is facilitated by a complex movement of weapons in and out of the country. Muhindo said the current flow of illicit arms into the DRC comes through Rwanda under the M23. A military officer who requested anonymity told ENACT that the M23 offered as much as US$500 000 to have arms caches smuggled to them or left in strategic locations for collection. They also rely on their own fighters disguised in civilian clothing or sympathisers to ferry weapons into the territories they intend to capture.
A Goma-based businessman told ENACT that in North Kivu, arms were smuggled through Ntamugenga and brought into Masisi and Goma via motorcycles, trucks and chukudu (wooden bicycles), concealed in loads of charcoal, firewood, cereal, fodder and other farm products. Motorcycles are the most common methods of transport as smugglers can use secret meandering paths through the bush when necessary, evading roadblocks and government checkpoints.
Once in Masisi, the weapons are concealed in strategic depots. One such depot was discovered on the farm of Édouard Mwangachuchu, the former Masisi legislator who was charged with ‘possession of weapons and munitions of war’ and ‘participation in the insurrectionary movement’ for his support of the M23.
In South Kivu, arms are smuggled by air from Bukavu or other airstrips into Minembwe airstrip or across Lake Kivu.
Arms smuggling is perpetrated by rebel groups, government officials, security personnel, and civilians. A senior military officer told ENACT that the M23 and other rebel groups often bought their arms from corrupt and rogue FARDC officers. Indiscipline and poor pay across FARDC ranks, coupled with its weak armoury inventory management system, has made arms smuggling a viable form of revenue for corrupt soldiers.
A Congolese police officer told ENACT that ‘rogue soldiers sold their arms to meet their basic needs as they had gone for three months without pay. Each weapon was going for between US$50 and US$80.’ Findings from research interviews with FARDC officers indicated that other soldiers involved in this illegal trade were recruits of the ‘brassage and mixage’ process between 2004 and 2010, which saw the assimilation of pro-Rwanda rebels into the FARDC.
Added to this, some peacekeepers in the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) have reportedly been arrested for smuggling military uniforms, while the Ukrainian contingent was also implicated in smuggling arms from Gisenyi in Rwanda to Goma. A senior military officer, speaking to ENACT on condition of anonymity, explained that diplomatic immunity granted to United Nations (UN) staff and cargo facilitated the passage of smuggled arms. Once in Goma, the arms would be airlifted to M23-controlled territories such as Rubaya in exchange for gold and coltan.
Key informants in the Lake Tanganyika Basin told ENACT that smuggling arms out of the DRC across the lake to Tanzania was also commonplace. Driven by the ready market for illegal arms in Tanzania, criminal syndicates smuggle weapons and munitions across the lake and sell them on the black market.
The negative consequences of arms smuggling in and out of the DRC are incalculable, and entrench instability across the region. The negative consequences cannot be mitigated by one country alone and require a multinational response. Critical reflection on the duty to protect citizens is demonstrably lost in the decades-long competition for territory and resources. Reflection specifically on the effects of arms smuggling on communities in the Lake Tanganyika basin is a necessary first step for policy makers and security actors who seek to pull the region back from the knife edge between conflict and uneasy peace.
Mugah Michael Sitawa, Researcher, Institute for Security Studies, Nairobi
Image: Daniel Buuma/Getty Images
