KINSHASA: The Rwanda-backed M23 militia has carried out “mass killings” of Congolese civilians in the occupied eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned on Tuesday.With Rwanda’s support, M23 fighters have seized swathes of the DRC’s resource-rich east, capturing the key city of Goma in late January, following a lightning offensive.Since then, the M23 has set up to govern the regions under its control for the long term.With hundreds of Congolese soldiers and allied militia fighters having dispersed to avoid capture, the M23 has carried out frequent raids in a bid to stamp its authority on the restive region.In one such raid on February 22 and 23, the armed group “summarily executed at least 21 civilians and most likely many more” near a former Congolese army barracks in Goma’s Kasika neighbourhood, HRW said in a statement.A 15-year-old boy was among the bodies found dumped at a building site near the barracks, according to the watchdog. HRW said the lack of fighting and the wounds inflicted “indicated that M23 fighters deliberately executed those in their custody”, accusing the armed group of “war crimes”.Citing witnesses who gave their testimony to HRW remotely, the rights group said it had “credible information” that the M23 targeted the area because of reports of the presence of the Congolese army and pro-government militiamen.Called “Wazalendo”, meaning “patriots” in Swahili, those fighters are sometimes dressed in civilian clothes, making their allegiance to an armed group difficult to determine.“The M23’s brutal control over Goma has created a climate of fear among those perceived to be allied to the Congolese government,” said Clementine de Montjoye, a senior HRW researcher for the African Great Lakes region.“The mass killings don’t seem to be actions by rogue fighters, but rather the M23 leadership’s efforts to solidify their control by whatever means necessary,” Montjoye added.Urging the international community to pressure Rwanda to end its backing for the M23, the researcher added that the “Rwandan government, as the direct supporter of the M23, may be complicit in the armed group’s war crimes”.Besides the 22 eyewitness accounts, the watchdog said it had drawn on authenticated video and photographs to reach its conclusions. HRW said it had on May 23 contacted the M23’s spokesman, Lawrence Kanyuka, but had not received a response by the time of publication. Responding on X, Kanyuka accused HRW of publishing “a propaganda instrument”, complaining of a “lack of professionalism in certain human rights organisations”. Kanyuka last week slammed allegations from HRW’s fellow rights group, Amnesty International, that the M23 was torturing civilians it had imprisoned as “grotesque and unsubstantiated”.
