Woman is tied between two trees and gang-raped by six men while dozens of women and children are slaughtered in horrific new outbreak of Rwanda-Congo rebel violence

Daily Mail​

5 hours ago

Women gang-raped and tied between trees, civilians executed with machetes, hospitals stormed, and children slaughtered with their bodies dumped into rivers.
This is the grim reality in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where a devastating new Amnesty International report accuses both the Rwanda-backed rebel group M23 and Congo-based Wazalendo militias of widespread human rights abuses that could account to war crimes.
Amnesty's 39-page briefing, 'DRC: 'They Said we would Die': M23 and Wazalendo abuses in eastern Congo', reveals harrowing testimonies of sexual violence, torture, and extrajudicial killings carried out between March and May of this year.
One survivor described being tied between two trees and gang raped by six Wazalendo fighters, telling investigators: 'Let them be punished so they don't do such acts to someone else'.
During another rape by Wazalendo fighters, Kinyarwanda-speaking men, believed to be fighters belonging to the armed Nyatura group, accused the woman of supporting the M23. They chillingly told her that 'any women who come to the field, we will always rape them,' according to the Amnesty report.
Another woman said she was raped by five M23 fighters inside a military camp in Bukavu: 'When I see someone in a military uniform, I'm traumatised. Since that day, I do not go out. When I see them, I feel pain in my heart. It's like a heart palpitation'.
In total, Amnesty interviewed 14 survivors of sexual violence – eight were raped by M23, five by Wazalendo, and one by soldiers from the Congolese army (FARDC).
The abuses, they say, are part of a deliberate campaign of intimidation and humiliation aimed at terrorising civilians.
One survivor described being tied between two trees and gang raped by six Wazalendo fighters, telling investigators: 'Let them be punished so they don't do such acts to someone else'. Pictured: Displaced community members travel in a truck as they return to their hometown of Kitshanga on February 11, 2025 in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo
Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty's Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, said: 'For the women of eastern DRC, nowhere is safe; they are raped in their homes, in the fields, or camps where they seek shelter.
'The world must say enough. All warring parties must prioritise the protection of civilians, including women and girls who continue to bear the greatest brunt of this conflict'.
Chagutah called on both Rwanda and Congo to hold their proxies accountable, urging DRC's President Felix Tshisekedi to dismantle Wazalendo militias and Rwanda to rein in its Defence Forces operating in the region.
The shocking report comes just weeks after Human Rights Watch (HRW) revealed that M23 fighters had killed at least 140 people in July in one of the worst atrocities since the group's resurgence in 2021.
Witnesses described M23 fighters using machetes and gunfire to massacre men, women, and children in 14 villages around Virunga National Park between July 10 and July 30.
Some were forced to sit on riverbanks before being gunned down. Others were buried hastily in fields or thrown into rivers.
One man recalled: 'We woke up on 11 July and [the M23] were there in large numbers... They were already on our doorstep... They killed people with guns and machetes,' adding that five members of his family were killed.
Villagers described finding the bodies of a 47-year-old man and his four children, ages 11 to 17, in a field about 18 kilometers from Kiseguru, on July 11.
'We found him in his field with his head cut off,' said a man who found and buried them. 'They were all killed with machetes. Their throats were cut.'
Another man said that he watched as the rebels killed his wife and four children aged nine months to 10 years from afar, according to the report.
Locals said that M23 fighters told them to immediately bury the bodies in the fields or leave them unburied, preventing families from organising funerals.
'M23 fighters also threw bodies, including of women and children, into the Rutshuru River,' the report added.
A woman who saw M23 fighters kill her husband with a machete on July 11 said that M23 fighters that day rounded up the women and children.
'Around 10am, we were forced to walk toward the place where our lives were going to end,' she said. 'We walked in silence. If a child started crying, they threatened to kill them. They killed with knives.'
She said they were a group of about 70 people, including women and girls: 'We walked all day until we reached the confluence of the Kitchuru Rivers in the evening…
'They told us to sit on the edge of the riverbank, and then they started shooting at us.'
The woman added that the executions took place near Kafuru, and identified 47 people, including children, who were killed.
She was able to escape because she fell in the river without being shot.
Human Rights Watch received information that the M23 carried out mass killings by the Rutshuru River for several days. Residents and witnesses said that the M23 continued to execute people until at least July 30.
HRW believes the true death toll may exceed 300, echoing similar UN findings earlier this month.
Amnesty also documented how M23 fighters stormed hospitals in Goma six times, abducting patients and medical staff, including wounded soldiers who are still receiving care.
Civil society activists, journalists, and lawyers have also been targeted. One activist detained in March said M23 interrogators had detailed knowledge of his work: 'It was like they had all the info on us,' he said.
The M23 fighters whipped him both nights of his detention. 'They really beat me. They had whips. They beat me on the buttocks. They slapped me in my ears which caused my nose to bleed.'
Another activist, Aloys Bigirumwami, was abducted in May along with five others. He has not been seen since.
The atrocities come despite a flurry of peace initiatives. In June, the DRC and Rwanda signed a US-brokered peace deal in Washington, followed by a ceasefire agreement in Doha, Qatar, in July.
But last week, M23 walked away from negotiations, accusing Kinshaha of failing to meet its commitments.
Fighting has resumed across North and South Kivu, leaving civilians once again caught in the crossfire.
HRW has urged the UN Security Council, the European Union, and world governments to impose sanctions on those responsible and press for prosecutions.
Amnesty, meanwhile, says the international community must stop turning a blind eye: 'Rwanda and the DRC cannot continue shunning responsibility; they must hold all perpetrators accountable,' Chagutah warned.
Since January, the M23 offensive has seized large parts of the mineral-rich east, including the regional capital Goma.
The UN says thousands have been killed and hundreds of thousands more driven from their homes.
For ordinary Congolese civilians, there is little hope. As one woman, raped while pregnant, told Amnesty: 'They told me if my daughter doesn't go back into the room, they would kill her. I thought I was going to die.'