The governors of North Kivu and South Kivu toured rehabilitation works on National Road No. 2 on Saturday, March 7, including a bridge swept away last month by the Mulimbi River. The works are entirely financed by the AFC/M23 movement.
GOMA / BUKAVU — The governors of North Kivu and South Kivu conducted a joint field inspection on Saturday along the Goma–Minova corridor, assessing the progress of bridge rehabilitation works on National Road No. 2 (RN2), the vital artery linking the two eastern provinces. The visit, which took place as regional leaders gathered in Arusha for the 25th EAC Summit, drew attention to an infrastructure effort with significant implications for the daily lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people in the Kivus and an unusually prominent source of funding: the AFC/M23 rebel movement.
North Kivu Governor Bahati Musanga Erasto and South Kivu Governor Patrick Busu Bwangwi travelled together along the RN2 to evaluate rehabilitation works on several bridges connecting their two provinces. Among the key sites visited were the Mweya Bridge at Bweremana (PK18) in North Kivu, and the Buganga Bridge (PK147) on the RN2, the latter having been destroyed approximately one month ago when the Mulimbi River burst its banks and swept the structure away. The loss of the Buganga bridge had severed an already fragile road link at a time when the entire region is struggling to maintain basic connectivity.
According to the authorities and engineers on site, works are advancing rapidly, and traffic on this economically and commercially strategic corridor is expected to resume in the near future.
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National Road No. 2 is one of the most critical transport arteries in eastern DRC, forming the main overland link between Goma, the commercial capital of North Kivu, and Minova, Kalehe, and Bukavu to the south. The road traverses the western shore of Lake Kivu and passes through the territory of Kalehe, connecting markets, farming communities, and administrative centres across both provinces.
The route has been in a state of progressive deterioration for months. Civil society groups in Kalehe had recently raised the alarm over the Mweha–Mukwija stretch, warning that multiple bridges and road sections were at serious risk of total failure. Farmers and traders have struggled to move agricultural produce to urban markets in Goma and Bukavu, leading to significant financial losses and rising food prices in local markets. With the RN2 degraded, several communities in Kalehe risk being cut off entirely.
The rehabilitation works are entirely financed by the Alliance Fleuve Congo/M23 (AFC/M23) movement, which has controlled Goma and much of North Kivu since January 2025 and has installed its own civil and administrative authorities across territories it holds, including the governors who conducted Saturday’s inspection.
The decision to invest in infrastructure on this axis reflects a broader pattern of the AFC/M23 seeking to consolidate administrative legitimacy over the territories it controls. Restoring the Goma–Minova corridor is not merely a technical undertaking; it is also a strategic one. The RN2 is the principal supply and trade route linking the two provincial capitals under the movement’s authority, and its repair serves both the civilian population and the movement’s own logistical interests.
For the populations of the Kivu provinces, the rehabilitation of the RN2, whatever its political context, is a pressing practical need. The road is not just an economic corridor; it is also a humanitarian lifeline. Sick patients, displaced families, humanitarian organisations, and traders all depend on the RN2 to access services and move across a region that has been devastated by years of conflict and displacement.
The collapse of the Buganga Bridge last month was a stark illustration of how climate-related events, in this case, a river overflowing its banks, compound the vulnerability of communities already living under the strain of armed conflict. With the rainy season ongoing, the urgency of restoring passable road infrastructure before further deterioration occurs is real and widely felt.
If the works proceed as described by officials and engineers on the ground, the reopening of the Goma–Minova axis would represent a meaningful improvement in mobility and trade for communities on both sides of the North–South Kivu border. Whether it also advances the broader political and humanitarian objectives that the region so urgently needs remains an open question, one that will not be answered by bridge works alone.