Amnesty International has issued a damning report accusing the M23 rebel group of grave human rights abuses, including torture, killings, and enforced disappearances in eastern Congo’s rebel-held cities.
“These acts violate international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes,” the group said in a statement released Tuesday.
According to Amnesty, the violations occurred in Goma and Bukavu, two strategic cities seized by M23 earlier this year during an aggressive military campaign. The offensive, which escalated in January and is backed by neighboring Rwanda, has deepened one of the world’s most severe and long-standing humanitarian crises.
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Between February and April, Amnesty reportedly interviewed 18 former detainees who described harrowing conditions in rebel custody. Many had been accused without evidence of supporting the Congolese government or military. In most cases, detainees were never told why they were being held.
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Held in cramped, unsanitary cells, the detainees lacked food, water, medical care, and access to basic hygiene. Some witnessed fellow prisoners die from torture or the conditions themselves. One survivor told Amnesty they saw two detainees beaten to death with hammers. Another was reportedly shot dead in front of other prisoners.
“All of the former detainees interviewed by Amnesty said that they were either tortured or witnessed M23 fighters torture others in detention,” the report noted. Beatings with electric cables, wooden rods, and engine belts were among the brutal methods described.
In addition to torture and murder, M23 fighters are accused of obstructing families searching for loved ones. Amnesty said that in many cases, the rebels denied access to detention sites or refused to acknowledge that individuals were being held, actions the group classifies as enforced disappearances.
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M23 is one of roughly 100 armed factions operating in eastern Congo, an area rich in minerals but ravaged by violence. Over 7 million people have been displaced nationwide, including 100,000 this year alone.
Despite a recent agreement between Congo’s army and M23 to move toward a ceasefire, clashes continue, and the rebels, bolstered by an estimated 4,000 Rwandan troops, have threatened to advance all the way to the capital, Kinshasa, 1,600 kilometers away.
READ ALSO: How the DR Congo–U.S. minerals-for-security deal is taking shape
