DRC Suspends Academic Activities at 11 Universities in M23-Held Goma and Bukavu

Kinshasa's Minister of Higher Education, Marie-Thérèse Sombo, ordered the suspension of registrations, teaching, evaluations and degree-conferring activities for the 2026-2027 academic year at 11 public universities and higher-learning institutes in AFC/M23-controlled North and South Kivu, including the University of Goma (UNIGOM), the Official University of Bukavu (UOB), and affiliated ISC/ISTM/ISTA/ISP/ISDR/ISAM campuses. The government called the measures "targeted and temporary," pledging to preserve student credentials and facilitate transfers, after M23 installed new management committees at several Bukavu institutions on Aug 12. AFC/M23 coordinator Corneille Nangaa rejected the suspension as "intellectual genocide" on Aug 28, saying Goma and Bukavu campuses would remain open under an alternative system the group had prepared.