The Democratic Republic of Congo has paid its last respects to Major General Peter Cirimwami Nkuba, who died as a result of bullet wounds sustained in the town of Sake (North Kivu), and Colonel Rugabisha Alexis Lewis, who died in Kelehe in the province of South Kivu during fighting between the army and AFC/M23 rebels. The ceremony was presided over by the Head of State, Félix Tshisekedi, at the Palais du Peuple on Monday 1 September 2025. The ceremony was attended by members of the government, members of the FARDC General Staff, other military officers, diplomats and other political and civil society figures.

The remains of the senior officer, who had been lying in state for more than eight months in the military hospital morgue at Camp Colonel Tshatshi, were displayed to allow the nation to bid him a final farewell.

The two senior officers were posthumously promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General for General Cirimwamu and Brigadier-General for Colonel Alexis Rubagisha.

Following the tributes, the funeral cortege headed for the Repos du Soldat cemetery in the commune of Nsele, where the senior officer was laid to rest.

On 23 January 2025, in the middle of an operation in Saké, he was fatally shot as he came to support his troops engaged in violent fighting against the M23 rebels. Rushed to Kinshasa, he succumbed to his injuries the following day at the Camp Tshatshi military hospital.

The military governor of North Kivu, Major General Peter Cirimwami, died on 24 January 2025. He was appointed interim governor of North Kivu in October 2023 to replace Lieutenant-General Constant Ndima, who was recalled after the murder of around a hundred followers of the “Uwezo Wa Neno” religious sect in Goma by an elite army unit.

Written by Akilimali Chomachoma