# Goma falls to M23; S/RES/2773 recites M23/RDF control

Date: 2025

## The fact

On 28 January 2025 M23 took control of Goma’s airport and main entries. S/RES/2773 (21 February 2025), Chapter VII, recites M23 control of Goma on 28 January 2025 with the support and participation of the Rwanda Defence Forces. Reuters the same day recorded rebel control of the airport.

## Context

He is commander-in-chief. FARDC and allied militias executed the defence. M23 executed the capture. RDF support is recorded by the Council. Paul Kagame is the live counterpart. Sultani Makenga and [Corneille Nangaa](/people/corneille-nangaa) are unresolved. Displacement and troop estimates are contested. This page does not invent them.

27–28 January city fighting; 28 January airport control; 14 February Bukavu; 21 February S/RES/2773. Stored as one 28 January 2025 Fact. Keep Goma falls to M23; S/RES/2773 recites M23/RDF control on 2025-01-28 separate from neighbouring siege, CENI, Court, Goma, and 2773 instruments.

The president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is head of state and commander-in-chief of the FARDC. He can proclaim a state of siege, run a CENI return, and command a defence of Goma. He does not write a Security Council resolution, a Carter Center tabulation finding, or a unique eastern-DRC civilian death total invented here.

## Evidence and sources

United Nations Security Council carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is eastern-drc-m23-rdf: a completed provincial-capital capture recited by the Council, under Kinshasa command that failed to hold the city.

## What is established and what is not

Established: S/RES/2773 recites M23 control of Goma on 28 January 2025 with RDF support. Reuters recorded airport control the same day.

Not established: A unique Factrail civilian death or displacement integer, or that [Tshisekedi](/people/felix-tshisekedi) authored RDF support.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

The army executed the defence. M23 captured the city. Sharing execution with RDF is not a reason to drop Kinshasa’s failure to hold Goma.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Goma falls to M23; S/RES/2773 recites M23/RDF control, not a later speech about Goma falls to M23; S/RES/2773 recites M23/RDF control.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Goma falls to M23; S/RES/2773 recites M23/RDF control on 2025-01-28 is not a licence to treat every later United Nations Security Council communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Goma falls to M23; S/RES/2773 recites M23/RDF control into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He commands the FARDC. The army executed the defence. M23 captured the city. Sharing execution with RDF is not a reason to drop Kinshasa’s failure to hold Goma. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Félix Tshisekedi: https://factrail.ai/people/felix-tshisekedi

## Drivers

- Civic Space: https://factrail.ai/drivers/civic-space
- Eastern DRC / M23–RDF (Great Lakes): https://factrail.ai/drivers/eastern-drc-m23-rdf

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/rwanda-backed-congo-rebels-face-pockets-resistance-after-entering-goma-2025-01-28/
- https://undocs.org/S/RES/2773(2025)

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/cd-goma-fall-2025