Rwandan forces and M23 rebels have shelled refugee camps and other highly populated areas in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo on many occasions this year, Human Rights Watch has claimed.
The NGO also accused the DRC’s armed forces and its allied militias of putting the camps’ residents in danger by stationing their artillery nearby in its report alleging violation of international humanitarian and human rights law in the longstanding war in the central African country.
Decades-long fighting among regional armies and rebels in eastern DRC has killed and displaced millions.
Most of the displaced live in the eastern provinces of the country, including North Kivu, where M23, with assistance from the Rwandan army, has managed to take control in many areas. More than half a million people have been forced into camps near Goma, the capital of North Kivu, as the rebel group advances.
The researchers for the report interviewed 65 witnesses, camp authorities and victims of abuses in six displacement camps around Goma. They also spoke with 31 humanitarian, diplomatic, UN, and military sources and analysed photos and videos of attack sites, images of weapon remains, and satellite imagery.
The researchers said they had found five instances since January in which Rwandan and M23 forces fired artillery and rockets at displacement camps or inhabited places near Goma. In one incident in May, the report says, Rwandan or M23 forces killed at least 17 civilians, most of them children, when they fired at least three rockets into the 8ème Cepac camp.
The report says the DRC army stationed its artillery near the camps, putting the residents at risk.
The researchers further alleged that alongside a group of its allied militia known as the Wazalendo, members of the DRC army raped women in camps and others who were looking for food and firewood close by. They also shot people inside, killing some and wounding others, the report alleges.
M23 fighters raped women “who crossed the frontline” in search of food, the report says.
Government spokespeople for Rwanda and the DRC did not respond to requests for comment.
The suffering of displaced people around Goma “is difficult to overstate”, said Clémentine de Montjoye, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.
“Many said they feel stuck between a rock and hard place, facing abuses by all sides despite having fled to Goma in the hopes of finding safety,” de Montjoye said. “They don’t feel safe where they are, but can’t move to a safe place.”
She said the abuse patterns and increase in the use of explosive weapons in or near refugee camps around the city are a relatively new development.
There are more than a hundred armed groups in eastern DRC. The UN, US and EU have in the past issued sanctions for human rights violations against some of their leaders, as well as DRC and Rwandan officials who support the entities.
Jason Stearns, founder of the non-profit Congo Research Group, said the DRC’s policy of conducting counterinsurgency by bringing in other combatants, such as the Wazalendo militia and other countries’ troops, has “complicated the battlefield and aggravated the violence for the civilian population”.
Delphin Ntanyoma, visiting researcher in peace and conflict studies at the University of Leeds, says the findings show that it is “extremely urgent” for all parties to see the importance of complying with international humanitarian law, invest their efforts in protecting civilians, and allow passage of humanitarian aid.
“I truly believe that local populations in North Kivu and across the eastern DRC want peace,” he said. “All parties should work and consider that military options won’t bring lasting peace. Dialogues and talks should tackle the root causes of conflict to avoid cycles of violence.”
The report called on the UN, the African Union and governments to push the conflicting sides to protect civilians.