Massacres in eastern Congo cast doubt on U.S. mediated peace deal : NPR
M23 Rebel Soldiers Board Pickup Rocup in Goma on May 18, 2025.
Jospin Mwisha / AFP
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Jospin Mwisha / AFP
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo – Rwandan supported the M23 rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo killed 141 villagers in July, said Wednesday that Human Rights Watch, despite the hope that peace talks supported by President Trump would end violence in the troubled region.
The organization of rights noted that the rebels had committed massacres in at least 14 villages in the northern province of Kivu, in the east of the Congo, between July 10 and 30.
The attacks mainly targeted the villagers of Hutu Ethnic, according to Human Rights Watch, as part of an apparent military campaign by the M23 against the democratic forces of the Extremist Hutu for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR.
The East Congo, which houses large reserves of critical minerals, has undergone armed conflicts for more than three decades. Violence dates back to the consequences of the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda, when the regime dominated by Hutu collapsed and millions of people – including Hutu extremists – fled in Congo. Their arrival has fueled a cycle of wars and instability that continues today. The UN, the United States and many regional governments claim that the M23 rebellion, which was born from previous militias led by Tuts in the region, now operates as an indirect force for the interests of Rwanda.
The magnitude of recent murders in northern Kivu is probably larger than that reported by Human Rights Watch, which has compiled a list of people killed or fearing the dead.
Referring to the same armed campaign, the UN announced in early August that the M23 had killed at least 319 villagers in the north of Kivu, citing first -hand accounts collected by United Nations rights investigators. Rwandan soldiers would have participated in M23 operations.
Rwanda and M23 challenged the UN conclusions.
The Congolese Tutsis conduct the M23 rebellion, which again resumed armed operations at the end of 2021 after years of dormancy, with the support of the smallest neighbor of Congo Rwanda.
At the start of this year, violence increased considerably. M23 fighters and Rwandan troops captured the two largest cities in eastern Congo Goma and Bukavu in a lightning offensive.
With fear that the M23 will threaten to overthrow the Congolese government and the regional eruption war in Central Africa, the Trump administration applied strong pressure on Congo and Rwanda to stop fighting.
US President Donald Trump makes a letter of congratulations while meeting the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Rwanda Cooperation Olivier Nduhungirehe and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Republic of Congo Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner at the Oval Office at the White House on June 27, 2025.
Joe Raedle / Getty Images from North America
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Joe Raedle / Getty Images from North America
Congolese and Rwandan leaders signed a peace agreement on June 27 in Washington, which provides that Rwandan troops withdraw from Congolese territory, as well as for Congolese forces dismantling the FDLR militia – which Rwanda considers an existential threat.
But since then, there has been practically no change in the field in eastern Congo, despite the president of frequent opposite claims. Speaking as recently as Friday, Trump told Fox News “I settled wars that have been lasting for 35 years, some of them, and, you know, Congo and Rwanda, which was 31 years. I think that 8 million people died with machetes. Many machetes dead. They settled down. The machetes are swaying.
In addition, the Congolese government is also negotiating with the M23 rebels. At the end of July, the two parties signed a so-called “declaration of principles” in the capital of Qatar Doha which aims to lead to a ceasefire and then to a permanent peace agreement.
The clashes between the M23 and the Congolese government soldiers have also resumed in recent weeks, which raises more than the peace process is derailed. On Tuesday, the Congolese army said that the M23 was committing “incessant attacks” against its positions “, in flagrant and intentional violation of the Washington Peace Agreement and the Declaration of Doha Principles”.
The M23, for its part, said that the Congolese army “implemented systematic criminal attacks against densely populated areas using suicide bomber and heavy artillery”.
The Congo Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said on Wednesday that the civil massacres of North Kivu reported by Human Rights Watch and the UN “projected a serious shadow on the sincerity and the commitment of stakeholders to the Washington Peace Agreement and the Doha Trade Tracks”.
