Residents gather for a prayer vigil in remembrance of the victims of the ongoing unrest in the East of Congo, in Beni, on Dec. 7.SEBASTIEN KITSA MUSAYI/AFP/Getty Images
In a horrific assault in eastern Congo, the M23 rebel militia executed at least 131 civilians, abducted and raped dozens of others and destroyed houses in two captured villages, a United Nations investigation has found.
The investigation by UN peacekeepers found evidence that M23 insurgents had used guns and machetes to massacre villagers, abducted at least 60 other civilians, raped 27 women and girls, ransacked property and torched homes in the villages on Nov. 29 and 30. The rebels then tried to cover up the atrocity by burying the bodies and preventing people from leaving the villages, the investigators concluded.
The United States has urged the Rwandan government to stop supporting the M23 militia. A leaked report by a UN panel of experts in July contained seven pages of detailed documentation showing that the Rwandan military has supported M23 with troops and heavy weapons. The report cited evidence from witness interviews, aerial photos, videos, drone footage, captured rebels and seized equipment. Rwanda has denied any link to the rebels.
The M23 militia, officially known as the March 23 Movement and named after a broken peace agreement in 2009, first came to prominence in 2012 when it captured the major city of Goma, in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), just outside the Rwandan border.
It was later pushed out of the city and disbanded, but it was revived last year and has been implicated in a series of atrocities and attacks on civilians and UN peacekeepers since then.
The rebels have relentlessly expanded their territory this year, outgunning the UN peacekeepers and capturing village after village. They are now believed to have advanced within 20 kilometres of Goma, causing panic in the city. An East African intervention force has sent hundreds of troops into Goma in an attempt to defend the city and halt M23′s advance, and a fragile ceasefire has held in recent days.
The M23 offensive has forced nearly 400,000 people to flee their homes in eastern Congo, causing a humanitarian disaster as the refugees struggle for food, shelter and sanitation on the outskirts of Goma and other places. Hundreds of displaced people have needed treatment for cholera because of their poor living conditions.
The investigation by the UN peacekeepers, released on Thursday, described “unspeakable violence” during the M23 assault on the villages of Kishishe and Bambo, in North Kivu province. The rebels were seeking reprisal for what they perceived as civilian support for armed groups that had clashed with M23, the report said.
The rebels prevented the investigators from entering the two villages, so the evidence was gathered from interviews with 52 victims and other witnesses who had fled to a nearby town.
When news of the massacre first filtered out of the villages, an M23 spokesperson denied the atrocity and insisted that only eight civilians had been killed by “stray bullets.”
The Congolese government has described the massacre as a war crime that needs a full investigation. The government of France said it was “horrified” by the massacre. The UN peacekeepers said there must be unrestricted access to the two villages so that their people can receive humanitarian assistance.
The M23 offensive has triggered a war of words between Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame. In a speech last weekend, Mr. Tshisekedi denounced Mr. Kagame as a “warmonger” who is proud of “diabolical” behaviour.
Stephanie Wolters, a senior researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs, said in a recently published analysis that the relationship between the two presidents soured when Mr. Tshisekedi turned down a secret request by Mr. Kagame to send Rwandan troops into the eastern Congo in a large-scale military deployment. The M23 resurgence began soon after this dispute between the two leaders, she said.
Amnesty International said M23 must stop targeting civilians. Children and elderly men were among the victims of indiscriminate killings by the rebel group last week, it said.
“The deliberate killing of captives – whether civilians or fighters – is a war crime,” said Flavia Mwangovya of Amnesty in a statement. “Indiscriminate attacks that kill or injure civilians are also war crimes. These killings and other human-rights abuses must be investigated and perpetrators must be made accountable.”
The M23 militia recently announced that it is willing to withdraw from the territory that it captured, but no signs of any movement have been seen so far.
Congo’s government has been unwilling to negotiate directly with M23, and a recent series of peace talks led by former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta has not included the rebel group.
In a statement this week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had spoken to Mr. Kagame and made clear to him that Rwanda’s assistance to M23 “must end.”
On Thursday, the European Union said it was imposing sanctions on M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma, among others in the region. The rebel militia “contributes to the armed conflict, instability and insecurity in the DRC, in particular through violence and serious human-rights abuses, including killings, attacks and sexual violence against civilians,” it said.