The M23 armed group in the Democratic Republic of Congo has forcibly deported hundreds of civilians from areas under its control in the country’s east, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). The organisation, in a statement released on Wednesday, described the actions as war crimes.
The international rights group reported that the M23 had forcibly rounded up more than 1,500 people and sent them across the border into Rwanda, which UN experts allege supports the anti-government militia. The deportations involved both Congolese citizens and Rwandan refugees.
HRW stated that these forced removals contravened the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which prohibit the forcible transfer of people within occupied territories during armed conflict.
“The Rwandan government and the M23 are committing war crimes by forcibly transferring and deporting people within occupied territory and to Rwanda,” said HRW senior researcher Clementine de Montjoye. She called for increased international pressure on Rwanda to halt the deportations, ensure civilian protection in occupied areas, and hold those responsible to account.
HRW suggested that many of those targeted were suspected of ties to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a rebel group formed by former Hutu leaders involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
The group reported that on 12 May, M23 rounded up as many as 2,000 people in the eastern town of Sake, relocating them to Goma, the capital of Nord Kivu province, around 25 kilometres away. Many were subsequently deported to Rwanda.
While the M23 has claimed that the deportees were Rwandan refugees previously held by the FDLR, the Congolese government has rejected this explanation.
In response to the HRW report, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe dismissed it as a “parody of human rights” during comments to AFP.
