A Goma military court convicted the troops of cowardice, mutiny and disobedience after they abandoned positions in Walikale, as rebels pushed toward the same town.
A military court in Walikale, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, sentenced 66 soldiers to death on 6 November for cowardice, mutiny and disobeying orders. The troops, from the 3415th Regiment, were arrested on 20 October in Ngora, accused of abandoning positions in Ntonto village during clashes with the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN). Four were acquitted and one sergeant got 10 years.
The FRN attacked in South Kivu that same Friday evening and pushed about 50km along a main road toward Walikale, the town where the court sat. Army spokesman Major Dieudonne Kasereka said Kambali was under enemy control. Congo lifted a 20-year moratorium on the death penalty in March 2024; since January 2025 military courts have convicted at least 507 soldiers and handed down 381 death sentences, according to RFI. No formal executions have followed.
Why it matters
Kinshasa is using death sentences to enforce discipline in an army that a Pentagon think tank analysis described as fragmented and poorly paid.
Free account needed to ask — your question is kept and asked for you right after sign-up. Answers are public.
No questions yet — be the first to ask.
DR Congo military court sentences 22 soldiers to death
DR Congo soldiers sentenced to death for fleeing battle | Reuters
Congo's M23 rebels say they have taken control of key eastern city as fighting kills peacekeepers | PBS News
DRC Military Court Sentences 66 Soldiers to Death Amid ...
Channel Africa
66 Soldiers Sentenced to Death for Cowardice - 3 Key Facts ...
Kenya News Update Today
Images from Openverse under Creative Commons licenses. Videos from YouTube.
Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.
Fictional AI pastiche — not real quote.
"It is curious how the word “cowardice” is reserved for the man who runs from the enemy, never for the regime that runs from the truth. When the state must execute its own soldiers to hold itself together, it has already confessed that its cause is not worth fighting for."
Fictional AI pastiche — not real quote.
"Those soldiers committed the only rational act available: they fled a meaningless tribal slaughter. A state that murders its own men for valuing their lives is not an army—it is a death cult demanding human sacrifice to an altar of collective nothingness."
Congo's national army, about 235,000 strong, has struggled with pay, equipment and command cohesion while fighting rebels in the east.
A rebel coalition including M23, renamed in October 2026 and now led by former president Joseph Kabila.
The first-instance military court that tried the 71 soldiers in Walikale town centre.
The Congolese army command for the region covering Walikale, which publicized the court's findings.
March 2024 November 2026
The 34th Military Region's account of the trial and sentences circulates in Congolese and international media.
The Goma garrison military court convicts 66 of 71 defendants; four are acquitted and one gets 10 years.
Local and security sources said the rebel coalition attacked and advanced about 50km along a main road toward Walikale without reaching it. Army spokesman Major Dieudonne Kasereka said Kambali was under enemy control.
Troops of the 3415th Regiment are detained in Ngora after fleeing positions in Ntonto village.
A separate group is condemned for withdrawing from the frontline during rebel clashes.
A court convicts the former president of war crimes and treason; he denies the charges and does not appear.
The government ends a 20-year pause on executions, citing the need to remove traitors from the army.
Discussed by: BBC News and RFI, which report no formal executions since the moratorium ended
Congo has not carried out a formal execution since lifting its moratorium in March 2024. The 66 condemned soldiers join hundreds of others under death sentence. If the pattern holds, the verdicts function as a deterrent threat rather than a prelude to firing squads.
Discussed by: Human rights groups including Amnesty International, which opposed the 2024 reinstatement
Rights groups warned that reinstating capital punishment would lead to executions and that military trials fall short of fair-trial standards. A decision to execute the Walikale group would test whether the death penalty is a threat or a practice.
Discussed by: RFI, whose count shows 381 death sentences since January 2025
The Walikale ruling follows 27 death sentences in October alone. With the FRN advancing and units breaking under pressure, more courts-martial are likely to produce similar batches of convictions.
Discussed by: Telegraph reporting and army spokesman Major Dieudonne Kasereka
FRN forces attacked in South Kivu on the evening of 6 November and advanced about 50km along a main road toward Walikale, without reaching it, local and security sources said. Army spokesman Major Dieudonne Kasereka said Kambali was under enemy control. If Walikale falls, the court that issued the sentences would be operating under rebel threat.
3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.
Congo ended a 20-year pause on capital punishment, saying it needed to remove traitors from the army. The government said the penalty would also apply to people involved in armed groups, insurrection, treason and war crimes.
Rights groups criticised the decision. No formal executions followed.
Military courts began issuing death sentences in volume: 381 since January 2025, according to RFI.
The Walikale verdict is a direct product of that 2024 decision, applied to soldiers accused of fleeing rather than to rebel leaders.
A Congolese court sentenced former president Joseph Kabila to death on charges including war crimes and treason. He denied the accusations and did not appear to defend himself.
The sentence had no immediate physical effect; Kabila remained outside the country.
A year later he was named leader of the FRN, making the death sentence a political fact in the war.
It shows capital punishment in Congo is used against both rank-and-file soldiers and political opponents, and that a death sentence does not remove a defendant from the conflict.
The M23 rebellion, which Congo and UN experts say Rwanda backs, seized large parts of mineral-rich eastern Congo. In October 2026 the coalition was renamed the FRN and Kabila took its leadership. Talks in Doha failed.
Congolese units withdrew from positions, and the army turned to mercenaries and the Wazalendo militia.
The FRN pushed into South Kivu and advanced toward Walikale, the town where the court-martial sat.
The retreats that produced the Walikale court-martial are the same retreats that let the FRN advance on the court's own location.