Students in rebel-held eastern Congo brave insecurity to take exams

6/6/2025 16:15

Tens of thousands of secondary school students sat for state exams in rebel-held eastern Congo this week, a complicated logistical feat requiring rare cooperation between the government and M23 rebels.



The Rwanda-backed insurgents seized eastern Congo's two largest cities in an offensive earlier this year and are now trying to show they can govern. African leaders along with Washington and Doha are meanwhile trying to broker a peace deal that would put an end to a conflict with roots in the Rwandan genocide more than three decades ago.



The state exams, administered across the sprawling central African country for students hoping to go to university, began on Monday and will continue through mid-June.



Administering them throughout the east of Democratic Republic of Congo required having education officials personally escort documents and other materials from the capital Kinshasa into M23-held cities and towns.



President Felix Tshisekedi's government announced last month it was waiving exam fees for students in North and South Kivu provinces, citing insecurity.



While M23 has previously said it seeks the ouster of Tshisekedi's government, the group's leader Bertrand Bisimwa told Reuters that it still recognised Kinshasa as the administrator of national exams.