Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the summary executions and forced recruitment of civilians by Rwanda-backed M23 armed group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Development Diaries reports that thousands of people in the eastern border city of Goma have been displaced due to fighting between the country’s national army and the rebel group M23.
According to HRW, the Congolese army is responding to the M23’s offensive by collaborating with ethnic militias with abusive records.
M23, an offspring of the National Congress for the Defence of the People, better known by its French acronym ‘CNDP’, was formed in 2012 and occupied Goma briefly before it was demobilised due to an African-led effort.
The rebel group fought the DRC government between 2006 and 2009 over a claim that the Congolese Tutsi and other ethnic communities in north and south Kivu are discriminated against.
‘Rwanda should end its military support for the M23 while Congolese government troops should prioritise protecting civilians and cease using abusive militias as proxy forces’, Senior Congo researcher at HRW, Thomas Fessy, noted.
Data from the United Nations show that the renewed hostilities by the M23, the Congolese army, and various other armed groups have forced more than 520,000 people to flee their homes.
HRW urged the African Union and its member countries to make clear to Rwanda, publicly and privately, that its continued military support for the M23 could implicate Rwanda in M23 abuses as a matter of state responsibility.
It also warned that Rwandan officials could be found complicit in M23 war crimes.
The rights organisation urged Congolese authorities to investigate and appropriately prosecute alleged war crimes, including ethnic violence and reprisals against the Tutsi community.
It called on government to maintain sanctions against senior M23 commanders and expand them to include commanders and officials across the region implicated in serious abuses.
Freedom House ranked the DRC as ‘not free’ in its 2022 Freedom in the World report of political rights and civil liberties with the Central African country earning 19 points out of a possible 100.
Photo source: World Bank
