The Long — The long-awaited transfer of defeated Congolese soldiers sheltered at a UN base in M23-controlled Goma in eastern DR Congo has begun, with up to 130 troops leaving the city this morning.

"The first batch comprising of 130 soldiers left at 5:19 this morning," a source at Goma airport, where at least 1000 FARDC troops sought refuge at a MONUSCO base when the M23 took Goma late January," told The New Times on Wednesday, April 30.

The exercise is being coordinated by Red Cross, along with representative of AFC/M23, Kinshasa and MUNUSCO, the UN peacekeeping force in the Congo.

The convoy of the withdrawing troops drove northwards and will exit M23-held territory through Lubero, according to our source.

They are expected to head to Kinshasa, the capital of war-torn DR Congo.

The exercise had been postponed at least twice in recent months, threatening to worsen tension.

The development comes just a day after SAMIDRC, the pro-Kinshasa force deployed by the SADC regional bloc, began it's own withdrawal from Goma, after it and its coalition partners failed to stop the M23 from capturing the city in January.

However, contrary to the SADC troops, the Congolese soldiers are withdrawing without their weapons, which have been seized by the AFC/M23.

Prior to the exercise, a screening effort was conducted by a team involving M23 representatives to identify the surrendered FADRC troops inside the MONUSCO camp and their weapons.

Thousands of other defeated FARDC troops and allied militias surrendered to M23, many choosing to join the rebels.