M23 rejects Amnesty International report on crimes in the DRC

The M23 has rejected the accusations contained in an Amnesty International press release accusing them of massacres and rapes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In a statement issued on February 18, rebel spokesperson Laurence Kanyuka wrote: “The Amnesty International report is based on testimonies collected from people whose statements are not based on the reality on the ground”.

“Amnesty International’s investigators never went to the scene of the events to compare the testimonies collected with the evidence on the ground but but are quick to draw hasty and unverified conclusions”, adds the M23.

In a statement, Amnesty International accused the “Rwandan-backed” M23 rebels of raping dozens of women in a series of attacks in November 2022 in the eastern DRC.

“Amnesty International bases its accusations on the testimony of 35 victims and direct witnesses. The organisation denounces “war crimes” which could also constitute “crimes against humanity,” the statement says.

According to Amnesty International, at least “66 women and girls” were raped by “the Rwandan-backed armed group M23” in the town of Kishishe, about 100 km north of Goma, capital of North Kivu province, the statement said.

After taking control of Kishishe, the M23 rebels “went door-to-door, killing all the adult men they could find and subjecting dozens of women to rape, including gang rape,” Amnesty said, without specifying the number of victims.

The M23 rebels respond that “the determination of rape cannot be so simplistic and limited to the statements of the victims”. For the rebels, “this offence requires forensic expertise to confirm”.

In November 2022, the Congolese government claimed that the M23 killed 272 civilians in Kishishe and Bambo, two villages in North Kivu, eastern DRC. The UN has given a different version of the figures, saying that the rebels killed 171 civilians in these two villages.

The M23 denies the death toll, arguing that only “eight civilians were killed by stray bullets and 12 fighters with weapons in their hands” died in the fighting.

One witness told Amnesty that he “counted up to 80 bodies of men shot by M23 elements” in a church, the report said. The victims were suspected to be supporters of rival armed groups, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and the local Mai Mai.

The situation in the DRC continues to worsen, despite repeated calls for a ceasefire from the African Union, the East African Community, the European Union and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region.

The M23 rebels are calling for a “direct dialogue” with the Congolese government. But Kinshasa demands that the rebels withdraw from conquered territories and lay down their weapons before considering talks with the DRC government.