On Tuesday, the M23 insurgents in eastern Congo accused the human rights organization Amnesty International of killing, torturing, and violently disappearing human prisoners in two rebel-controlled locations. These actions are in violation of international humanitarian law and could constitute war crimes, according to a declaration from Amnesty International. The decades-old conflict in northeast Congo grew worse in January when the Rwanda-backed M23 advanced and seized Goma, a proper area in North Kivu state, before Bukavu arrived in February. According to Amnesty, the organization spoke with 18 citizens who had been detained by M23 in Goma and Bukavu between February and April when they were accused of supporting the Rwandan troops or state. The former inmates claimed that several of the rebels ‘ prisoners were unaware of the reasons they were being held. According to the right group, they were held in overcrowded, unhygienic tissue without enough meals, water, sanitation services, or medical treatment. Many people claimed to have witnessed other prisoners die from abuse and the severe conditions. Some people described witnessing M23 soldiers capture and remove a detainee with a hammer, respectively. According to past detainees who spoke to Amnesty, all of them claimed to have been tortured or to have witnessed M23 fighters torture other detainees while they were detained. They also cited extreme beatings with sturdy rods, electrical cables, or engine belts. The rights team claimed that friends searched for their loved ones at the detention facilities, but M23 soldiers frequently denied their existence, which Amnesty claimed amounts to extorted disappearances. In a fight that has led to one of the most important humanitarian crises in the world, about 100 armed groups have been fighting for a foothold in the mineral-rich southeast Congo near the border with Rwanda. 100, 000 of the more than 7 million people who have fled their homes this year have been displaced. According to UN experts, the rebels are supported by about 4, 000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, and they have occasionally vowed to march as far as Kinshasa, the country’s capital, about 1,600 kilometers ( 1, 000 miles ) to the east. Despite the agreement between the Congo’s infantry and M23 next month to work toward a ceasefire, fighting between the two parties continues.
