Gross rights violations, possibly including war crimes and crimes against humanity, may have been committed by the Rwanda-backed M23 militia and the Congolese military and its affiliates in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to United Nations investigators.
A fact-finding mission by the UN Human Rights Office said on Friday that it has determined that all sides in the devastating conflict had committed abuses since late 2024, including summary executions and rampant sexual violence in the provinces of North and South Kivu.
Eastern DRC, a region bordering Rwanda, has been plagued by non-state armed groups and suffered extreme violence for more than three decades.
Since taking up arms again at the end of 2021, the M23 armed group has seized swaths of land in the restive region with Rwanda’s backing, triggering an armed conflict with the DRC military, resulting in a spiralling humanitarian crisis that killed thousands and displaced at least seven million people.
While multiple human rights bodies and the UN have accused parties in the DRC conflict of gross atrocities, this is the first UN report to find that those abuses may have constituted crimes against humanity.
“The atrocities described in this report are horrific,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk in a statement, calling for accountability for victims.
The findings “underscore the gravity and widespread nature of violations and abuses committed by all parties to the conflict, including acts that may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity”, the report added.
M23 seized Goma, eastern DRC’s largest city, in January and went on to make gains across North Kivu and South Kivu.
The UN report found the ethnic Tutsi-led M23 carried out summary executions, torture, and enforced disappearances – which may amount to crimes against humanity.
The group also used systematic sexual violence, including gang rape, largely against women, with an intent to “degrade, punish, and break the dignity of victims”, the report stated.
M23 received training and operational support from the Rwandan Defence Forces, and there are credible allegations of the covert presence of Rwandan personnel within M23, it added.
Rwanda has repeatedly denied backing M23 and says its forces act in self-defence against DRC’s army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. M23 has also previously denied committing atrocities.
The report also found that the DRC armed forces and affiliated armed groups, such as pro-government militia fighters known as Wazalendo, had committed grave violations, including gang rape, the deliberate killing of civilians, and looting.
In August, a separate UN report found that healthcare providers in the eastern region of DRC treated more than 17,000 victims of sexual violence from January to May in 2024.
Following mediation by Qatar, the DRC and the rebels signed a declaration of principles on July 19 in which they pledged to start negotiating a peace deal in August.
The two sides have so far missed the deadline to reach a peace agreement.
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