Gen Omega, who once vowed he would only return to Rwanda 'when no Tutsi lives there,' has escaped death during numerous offensives against the FDLR. These operations claimed the lives of several senior commanders, including Sylvestre Mudacumura, who was killed in 2019.
Since 2022, when M23 rebels intensified attacks, Gen Omega and the FDLR fighters protecting him have frequently shifted positions. They moved from Tongo in Rutshuru Territory, located within Virunga National Park, to Rusayo, then advanced to Bambiro in Masisi Territory, and to several other locations.
In September 2024, the Congolese army (FARDC) launched large-scale assaults in Rusayo and Shovu, claiming the operations targeted senior FDLR commanders, including Gen Omega. At the time, the Congolese government was under mounting international pressure to dismantle the terrorist organization.
However, it later emerged that, before the offensive began, Maj Gen Peter Cirimwami Nkuba, then governor of North Kivu Province, secretly warned the FDLR.
As a result, the group’s fighters and senior leaders, including Gen Omega, managed to escape quietly toward Kanyamahoro. Instead, the strikes ended up hitting fighters from the APCLS militia led by Janvier Karairi, rather than the FDLR’s top command.
Maj Gen Peter Cirimwami, killed in January 2025, is reported to have warned Gen Omega that the FDLR was about to come under attack.
Is Gen Omega still alive?
On January 25, reports circulated widely on social media claiming that Gen Omega, the Commander of FDLR-FOCA, had been killed by AFC/M23 fighters.
At first, the reports were widely believed, but later accounts indicated that he might still be alive.
The FDLR/FOCA spokesperson, Cure Ngoma, dismissed the claims of his death, saying: 'The reports about our military leader’s death are false. He is perfectly fine, at work, and carrying out his duties as usual.'
On the morning of March 1, new reports emerged that AFC/M23 was preparing to hand over captured FDLR fighters to Rwanda, including one with the rank of General, though his identity was not immediately confirmed.
The senior officer handed over at that time turned out to be Brig Gen Gakwerere Ezechiel, former Secretary-General of the FDLR. He was accompanied by Major Ndayambaje Gilbert, also known as Rafiki Castro.
Following this handover, journalists were eager to ask AFC/M23 leaders whether Gen Omega was among those in custody. The coalition’s deputy spokesperson, Dr. Balinda Oscar, responded that they had never captured him.
Speaking to IGIHE, Dr. Balinda said: 'As for Gen Omega, you will know his fate soon. We are still looking for him. I personally reached his bunker at Kanyamahoro, beneath Mount Nyiragongo. It was empty, neither he nor his body was found there.'
These conflicting accounts, from Cure Ngoma’s claims of Omega’s survival to Dr. Balinda’s assertion that he was missing but not confirmed dead, suggest that, with the support of the Congolese government, Gen Omega may still be alive. Nevertheless, his whereabouts remain shrouded in mystery.
Over the years, efforts were made to persuade Ntawunguka to return to Rwanda, but he consistently refused.
Where is Gen Omega?
As confusion continued to surround the fate of Gen Omega; Rwanda Defense Force spokesperson, Brig Gen Ronald Rwivanga, told Jeune Afrique in March 2025 that he had not been handed over to Rwanda. At the time, there were reports that AFC/M23 had captured another senior FDLR officer.
On August 21, 2025, the Commander of RDF forces in Western Province, Maj Gen Eugène Nkubito, addressed residents of Rubavu District, saying that Gen Omega should return to his homeland instead of hiding in the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
'The children and wife of FDLR leader, Pacifique Ntawunguka, are here in Rwanda. Did you know that? ⦠I would advise him, as his children often say, to come back home if he truly wants to live, rather than dying miserably in the bush. Tell me, what is he doing in those forests? What does he hope to achieve?' Maj Gen Nkubito wondered.
According to a United Nations group of experts’ report published on July 3, 2025, intensified AFC/M23 offensives forced Gen Omega and other top FDLR commanders to abandon their positions near Mount Nyiragongo and inside Virunga National Park.
In March, Dr. Balinda stated that AFC/M23 did not find Gen Omega in his trench at Kanyamahoro
Currently, FDLR fighters are reported to be scattered across several areas including Binza in Rutshuru Territory, parts of Walikale Territory, Uvira in South Kivu Province, and even in Bujumbura. However, the UN experts did not disclose the whereabouts of Gen Omega himself.
Pacifique Ntawunguka was born in 1964 in Gasebeya Sector, Gaseke Commune, Gisenyi Prefecture, today part of Ngororero District in Rwanda’s Western Province.
He attended primary school in Gaseke and secondary school at Rwankeli in the current Nyabihu District before enrolling at Collège Christ Roi in Nyanza. Later, he pursued military training at ESM (École Supérieure Militaire) in Kigali. After ESM, he furthered his education in aviation in Egypt, Greece, and France.
As an officer in the defeated Ex-FAR, Ntawunguka was sent abroad for further aviation training in Egypt, Greece, and France. Between 1990 and 1994, he held the rank of Lieutenant.
When the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi began, Omega was leading the 94th Battalion operating in Mutara. He was defeated by the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) and sustained a leg injury during the fighting before retreating to Kigali.
Following the defeat of the former Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), Omega fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) along with other ex-FAR members.
They later established the FDLR in 2000. Since the killing of Sylvestre Mudacumura in 2019, Ntawunguka has served as the commander of FDLR/FOCA.
Over the years, efforts were made to persuade Ntawunguka to return to Rwanda, but he consistently refused.
Rwanda Defense Force spokesperson, Brig Gen Ronald Rwivanga, told Jeune Afrique in March 2025 that Gen Omega had not been handed over to Rwanda.
