Overview

• Human Rights Watch reported that M23 fighters summarily executed at least 140 civilians in mid-July, largely ethnic Hutus, as part of operations against the FDLR.
• U.N. rights investigators announced an even higher toll, saying at least 319 people have been killed in the recent violence in eastern Congo.
• An Amnesty International briefing found M23 and Congo-aligned Wazalendo committed gang rapes and other abuses that may amount to war crimes, including assaults on hospitals in Goma.
• Survivor accounts described extreme brutality, including a woman tied between two trees and gang raped by Wazalendo fighters, and rapes occurring at M23 military positions.
• M23 rejected the HRW findings as false and Rwanda denied involvement, while the U.S. Bureau of African Affairs called for an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting as the Washington and Doha processes strain.