RDF and M23 attacked the BIhula and Kibumba areas of NYIRAGONGO territory. People are taken to their homes and others are imprisoned.
A white paper listing crimes committed under the guise of the M23 terrorist movement states that RDF-backed M23 terrorists killed at least eight civilians on July 1, 2022, including women and girls. Human Rights Watch released evidence from a mother of five children. It explained how her father was killed. Some of them died during the escape.
Four witnesses to the July 1 killings in the village of Ruseke said they saw M23 fighters walking in fields near the village or gathering food and supplies. Explosives were used more frequently during the conflict in North Kivu, endangering civilians and buildings. to reach her.
Unsurprisingly, M23 denied Human Rights Watch’s findings. The same is true at the government level, which denies support for the M23. Last year, however, the M23 movement gained momentum in eastern Congo following a series of serious crimes committed by other armed groups, sometimes government forces.
Therefore, the United Nations must strengthen cooperation with national and regional authorities to ensure that history does not repeat itself at the expense of the people of North Kivu who wish to see an end to this nightmare. The willful killing of civilians is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime. Congolese people have a right to marvel at the international community’s incredible tolerance and silent coercion.
The United Nations must act more effectively to block allegations that more than 10 million people have been slaughtered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For years, the M23 has continued to bolster its defenses and firepower, taking control of the territory without much intervention from the Security Council. According to Human Rights Watch, the M23 movement is supported by Uganda and Rwanda.
A UN source and a senior security official in the Democratic Republic of the Congo said that with foreign support, the M23 fighters may have continued to fire mortars for several hours. However, attacks that do not differentiate between military and civilian targets are illegal. Rights activist Thomas Pesci says the M23 movement has committed the same horrific crimes against civilians since taking control of northern Kivu in June..
UN, AU and Congolese partners should support strategies to prevent impunity through information security and verification mechanisms, internationalized judicial mechanisms, comprehensive reward systems and effective demobilization.
Bintou Keita, commander of the United Nations Mission to Stabilize the Congo (MONUSCO), informed the board that the M23 is no longer a regular force but an armed group. Therefore, it is necessary to exclude negotiations with international criminals and prevent the general incorporation of troops into the armed forces through the peaceful settlement of disputes through political means.