'They shot my neighbour in the head' - the lakeside city traumatised by war

Reuters

Summary executions and rape were among the atrocities committed by the M23 rebel group and Rwandan soldiers during their weeks-long occupation of the lakeside city of Uvira in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, an investigation by a leading rights group has found.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says its investigators found evidence of the execution of 53 civilians - 46 men, one woman and five boys - during door-to-door raids in the city's neighbourhoods after the rebels, widely believed to be backed by Rwanda, captured it in December.

Rwanda has consistently denied that it supports that M23 or that its own soldiers have been deployed to resource-rich eastern DR Congo.

But HRW says many of the interviewees alleged witnessing atrocities committed by uniformed Rwandan soldiers as well as M23 fighters.

"They [M23 fighters] shot my neighbour first in the head," said one of the 130 residents interviewed by HRW.

Another said he saw four members of his family killed.

"I wasn't hit so I just ran to the lake. I saw my brother, his wife, and two of his children fall," he was quoted as saying.

The M23 and Rwandan government have not yet responded to a BBC request for comment.

Warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual violence

The M23 captured Uvira - which lies on the shores of Lake Tanganyika - days after US President Donald Trump brokered a peace deal between DR Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame in a bid to end the devastating conflict in the resource-rich region.

UN experts have accused Rwanda of having "de facto control" of the M23's operations. They said M23 recruits were trained under Rwandan supervision and supported by high-tech Rwandan weaponry.

Reuters

The M23 withdrew from Uvira - the gateway to Burundi, a key military ally of DR Congo - in January following intense diplomatic pressure.

The HRW report is the first detailed study of what happened in the city when it was under M23 control. Tens of thousands of people fled their homes when the group seized control of it.

HRW says it documented eight cases of rape allegedly committed by the rebels and Rwandan soldiers during the occupation.

"They took my clothes off completely, tied my arms behind my back with my clothes, and raped me," a woman is quoted as saying in the report.

She added that when her husband attempted to intervene, he was shot dead.

HRW says it wrote in April to both the Rwandan government and M23 leaders for a response to the allegations in its report, but, it adds, neither replied.

A rape survivor was quoted in the report as saying that men in uniforms she identified to be from the Rwandan military told her: "If you don't do what I tell you, I will kill you."

Another woman said: "The Rwandan man said they should kill me, but the Congolese said: 'No, rape her'."

AFP

HRW says it believes the atrocities - which allegedly included abductions, enforced disappearances and forced recruitment - amount to war crimes.

Its investigators also visited what is says were three mass graves in Uvira, including one at a site previously controlled by UN peacekeepers.

The report says that children were also targeted and shot by rebels after being accused of being pro-government fighters.

One 12-year-old boy survived despite being shot by M23 fighters who then "stabbed him in the leg with a bayonet to check if he was dead", HRW says.

The HRW report is the latest to detail the scale of violence against civilians in eastern DR Congo.

The persistent violence in eastern DR Congo has led nearly two million people in South Kivu alone to run away from their homes to seek safety.

More about the DR Congo conflict from the BBC:

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