Rwanda-backed rebels accused of ‘war crimes' in assault on eastern DRC
The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have been accused of killing, torturing and 'disappearing' civilians after seizing swathes of territory in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The group's actions 'violate international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes,' Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
Amnesty investigators collected testimony from 18 men who were held by M23 fighters in a network of detention centres in Goma and Bukavu – the two major cities captured by the rebel group in its assault earlier this year.
One man described witnessing two of his fellow inmates being killed in captivity.
'The M23 [fighter] brought out a hammer and hit him in the ribs. He died on the spot,' he said. 'They took another person. He said he was a former member of the Republican Guard. They hit him with the hammer, but he didn't die immediately. In the morning, he was dead.'
Another man, who was detained in Goma, witnessed the rebels executing a fellow detainee.
'I saw one man who was assassinated,' he said. '[M23] were asking him where he kept the weapons and where is so and so. They shot him in the stomach and the right arm.'
At least nine of the former detainees said they were beaten with a range of implements including wooden rods, electric cables, and engine belts on areas including their genitalia and buttocks.
'I was beaten for five days,' said a former detainee who was held in a military compound in Goma. 'Everyone was hit. They said they were going to kill me. They said: 'We don't need you. We will take your wife, and we will impregnate her.''
Five of the detainees required hospital treatment following their release.
Many of the men interviewed by Amnesty said they were detained on suspicion of supporting the Congolese government and army.
Some were accused, without evidence, of hiding or possessing weapons, others of knowing the whereabouts of civil servants or government officials, while several were detained for speaking out against M23 abuses.
Survivors said hundreds of detainees were being held in 'overcrowded, unsanitary cells without sufficient food, water, sanitation facilities or healthcare,' Amnesty said.
Some were not told at all why they were being held and were denied access to lawyers or communication with their families.
Amnesty wrote to Rwanda's Ministry of Justice and Attorney General with its allegations earlier this month, but says it has not yet received a response.
More than 7,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands more displaced in the DRC since January in the latest escalation in conflict between the armed forces and the M23, which was formed in 2012 and has roots in the 1998 Rwandan genocide.
The United Nations maintains that Rwanda has 'de facto control of M23 operations,' and has detailed how M23 recruits are trained under Rwandan supervision and equipped with Rwandan weaponry – but Rwanda's leader, President Paul Kagame, has repeatedly denied any involvement in supporting the M23 rebels.
'M23's public statements about bringing order to eastern DRC mask their horrific treatment of detainees. They brutally punish those who they believe oppose them and intimidate others, so no one dares to challenge them,' said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International's Regional Director for East and Southern Africa. 'Regional and international actors must pressure Rwanda to cease its support for M23.'
In February, David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, announced that Britain would suspend aid to Rwanda due to its support of M23.
The UK has also said it will impose other measures, including looking into potential sanctions and suspending 'future defence training assistance'.
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