Nairobi, June 13, 2023) Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have committed unlawful killings, rape, and other apparent war crimes since late 2022, Human Rights Watch said today.
Attacks with explosive weapons in populated areas of North Kivu province have killed and injured civilians, damaged infrastructure, and exacerbated an already dire humanitarian crisis.
Armed groups opposing the M23 have also committed rape.The Rwandan army has deployed troops to eastern Congo to provide direct military support to the M23, helping them expand control over Rutshuru and neighboring Masisi territories.
The United Nations Security Council should add M23 leaders, as well as Rwandan officials who are assisting the abusive armed group, to the Council’s existing sanctions list.
“The M23’s unrelenting killings and rapes are bolstered by the military support Rwandan commanders provide the rebel armed group,” said Clementine de Montjoye, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“Both Congo and Rwanda have an obligation to hold M23 commanders accountable for their crimes along with any Rwandan officials supporting them.
”The M23 armed group includes soldiers who participated in a mutiny from the Congolese national army in 2012.
The group’s senior commanders have a well-known history of serious abuses against civilians.
The dire security situation has been compounded by two years of martial law in the region and the collaboration of the Congolese armed forces (Forces arees de la Repubique democratique du Congo, FARDC) with various armed groups, mostly along ethnic lines.
The warring parties have increasingly appealed to ethnic loyalties, putting civilians in remote areas of North Kivu province at a heightened risk.From March to May 2023, Human Rights Watch interviewed, in-person and by phone, 81 Congolese victims of abuses, family members, witnesses, local authorities, representatives of Congolese and international nongovernmental organizations, UN officials, and foreign diplomats.
Human Rights Watch also verified, using satellite imagery, photos, and videos, the shelling and destruction of civilian infrastructure.
Most of the abuses documented took place between November 2022 and March 2023.Human Rights Watch documented 8 unlawful killings and 14 cases of rape by M23 fighters.
Human Rights Watch also received credible reports of over a dozen other summary killings by M23 forces, but because of access and security constraints, could not independently corroborate them.
In addition, seven people were killed and three injured in apparently indiscriminate shelling on populated areas in Kanombe, Kitchanga, and near Mushaki, during M23 attacks.
Survivors reported cases of M23 fighters raping women in front of their children and husbands, which adds to the trauma experienced by victims and erodes the social fabric of communities and families.
Gang rapes were reported involving up to five assailants.
Due to stigma and underreporting by survivors, the full number of incidents of sexual violence by armed groups is most likely much higher.
A 46-year-old mother of six, who fled Mushaki in Masisi territory on February 25 with her 75-year-old mother, ran into a group of 10 M23 rebels, who took their money.
“They wanted to rape us,” she said. “My mother said no, so they shot a bullet into her chest, and she died on the spot. Then four of them raped me. As they were raping me, one said: ‘We’ve come from Rwanda to destroy you.’‘
”Survivors and witnesses identified M23 fighters on the basis of their uniforms and equipment, in some cases with the help of photographs published by the UN Group of Experts on Congo.
Some victims said that M23 rebels identified themselves as such or said they had come from Rwanda.Human Rights Watch also documented six cases of rape by rebels linked to other armed groups, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Forces democratiques de liberation du Rwanda, FDLR), a largely Rwandan Hutu armed group, some of whose leaders took part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, and the Nyatura Abazungu.
M23 leaders have denied that their forces have committed any crimes. On June 6, Human Rights Watch spoke with an M23 spokesperson who said the armed group denied allegations that its forces have committed abuses.
The UN Group of Experts, that monitors the arms embargo and sanctions violations in Congo, independently presented compelling evidence of Rwandan support to the M23 rebels.
The Rwandan government has denied these allegations.On May 1, the East African Community (EAC) announced that its troops were deployed to “ensure observance of ceasefire and in addition overseeing the withdrawal of armed groups.”
The EAC and African Union-led political processes should ensure that adequate humanitarian aid is provided to those in need and that victims of abuse have access to justice, Human Rights Watch said.
The renewed hostilities involving the M23, the Congolese army, and various other armed groups have resulted in the displacement of about one million people since March 2022.
On May 9, 2023, the aid organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, or Doctors without Borders0 said it had provided care to 674 survivors of sexual violence in the last two weeks of April in camps for displaced people around Goma, the North Kivu provincial capital, a dramatic increase from previous reporting periods.
Sexual violence against women and girls is widespread and not limited to areas of fighting.
In many of the cases reported to MSF, women and girls were raped while searching for food or firewood around displacement camps.Most of the victims of sexual violence interviewed by Human Rights Watch did not receive any medical treatment.
A humanitarian aid official working in North Kivu described the situation as “catastrophic,” adding that established displaced persons camps were only receiving the “absolute bare minimum” of support.
“Meanwhile, all along the road to Sake, makeshift camps housing up to 15,000 people each have appeared, and they have no latrines, shelter, no water, and no health care,” the aid official said.
“There is no one working there.”The Congolese government with the support of international donors should urgently provide medical, mental health, and socioeconomic services for displaced people and survivors of sexual violence in the regions affected by the violence, Human Rights Watch said.
“The African Union and United Nations should intensify efforts to help the Congolese government to better protect civilians at risk from attack,” de Montjoye said.
“The United Nations should impose targeted sanctions on those assisting the M23 and other abusive forces. Foreign governments currently providing military assistance to Rwanda should recognize that they too may be complicit in rebel atrocities.”
