The most recent report was released on August 20, 2025, by Human Rights Watch (HRW), alleging that M23 fighters killed at least 140 civilians in villages located in Rutshuru Territory, North Kivu Province. The report says the incidents occurred in areas under the control of the FDLR rebel group, near Virunga National Park.
According to HRW, most of the victims were ethnic Hutu civilians, killed between July 10 and July 30, 2025, across 14 villages in Binza groupement. The affected villages were listed as Busesa, Kakoro, Kafuru, Kasave, Katanga, Katemba, Katwiguru, Kihito, Kiseguru, Kongo, Lubumbashi, Nyamilima, Nyabanira, and Rubare.
Earlier, on August 6, 2025, the OHCHR reported that M23 fighters had killed 319 civilians in four villages in Binza between July 9 and July 21.
However, during a press conference held in Goma on August 22, 2025, the AFC/M23 leadership rejected these reports, dismissing them as fabricated and unverified.
The group argued that the organizations behind the allegations had not deployed investigators to the areas where the killings were reported, raising questions about the credibility of the findings.
Attempts to undermine the peace process
Bertrand Bisimwa, deputy coordinator of AFC/M23 in charge of Politics and Diplomacy, claimed that the reports were based on information provided by the FDLR, which he described as a terrorist group fueled by hatred against the Tutsi community.
He questioned the credibility of the findings, saying: 'HRW is based in New York, London, and Paris. How could they verify and confirm events that allegedly happened thousands of kilometers away, a month later? In our previous press briefing, we stated clearly that this is propaganda, and it is not the first time they have done it. They are well-known spokespersons of the FDLR.'
Freddy Kaniki Rukema, deputy coordinator of AFC/M23 in charge of Economy and Finance, added that the reports were aimed at sabotaging peace negotiations currently underway between AFC/M23 and the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He stressed that this pattern had occurred before.
Kaniki said: 'They talk about hundreds of people killed, yet provide no photos, no videos, not even names. Out of 319 alleged victims, not a single name? This is not new. In 2012, as peace talks were about to conclude and M23 was close to signing an agreement, a similar report suddenly appeared.'
He recalled that in 2012, such reports led the UN Security Council to authorize the peacekeeping mission in the DRC, MONUSCO, to launch large-scale offensives against M23 fighters. 'That was the context in which MONUSCO fought M23 on this very ground. The same game is being played again,' he said.
On July 19, 2025, the DRC government and AFC/M23 signed the Declaration of Principles intended to pave the way for peace agreement addressing the root causes of the conflict in eastern DRC. The process has been mediated by the State of Qatar, which continues to work with both parties to resolve outstanding issues.
Kaniki warned that the recent reports were deliberately designed to derail the peace process in Doha. 'The objective is to disrupt the peace talks in Doha, to push the international community to declare that these people are not partners for peace but killers who must be fought. The aim is to restart the war,' he said.
He concluded by stressing that certain actors profit from instability and therefore resist efforts to end the conflict. 'There are those who benefit from war, those who need it to continue,' he said.
Stirring ethnic tensions
Freddy Kaniki argued that another goal of the organizations behind the reports is to incite ethnic divisions. He said that if Hutu communities are led to believe that M23 is killing their people, they may retaliate against Tutsi communities, since M23 is often portrayed as being dominated by Tutsi fighters.
He explained: 'They want to bring in an element of ethnic hatred. If they claim that we killed the Nande or the Hutu, it can push Hutu and Tutsi back into conflict. Yet one of our main missions has been to fight against ethnic hatred.'
Bertrand Bisimwa added that accusations of M23 killing Hutu and Nande civilians are intended to legitimize attacks against Tutsi communities. He argued that the reports were designed to fuel the perception of a Hutuâ€"Tutsi confrontation.
'They want to encourage Hutu to fight against Tutsi, and that is extremely dangerous. Secondly, statistics show that the majority of our fighters are Hutu. In Rutshuru, where they claim we attacked Hutu civilians, the population itself is predominantly Hutu. How could we have attacked Hutu people using Hutu fighters within our own ranks? How do you explain that?' he wondered.
Bisimwa further claimed that these narratives were influenced by the DRC government, which he accused of spreading 'poison' aimed at dividing communities in the Kivu provinces. 'This is poison meant to turn us against each other and prolong the war in Kivu,' he said.
He also suggested that organizations such as HRW were trying to draw parallels with Rwanda's past by framing the allegations in terms of genocide.
'Because Rwanda experienced the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, HRW now wants to present a narrative that Hutu in the DRC are also being subjected to genocide. This is part of the so-called 'double genocide' theory. It is not accidentalâ€"it is deliberate, planned, and given a clear political objective. Do not mistake this for a simple humanitarian narrative. It is about maintaining conflict in the Great Lakes Region so that we remain under their watch,' he noted.
The AFC/M23 leadership called on international organizations seeking the truth about these allegations to conduct independent investigations in the villages of Rutshuru. The group pledged to grant access to any areas under its control for proper verification.
IGIHE
Source : https://en.igihe.com/news/article/m23-denounces-hidden-motives-behind-report-on-civilian-killings
