Kinshasa, August 6th, 2025 (CPA). – The United Nations has accused the AFC/M23 group and the Rwandan army of massacring ‘at least 319 civilians,’ including women and children, in Rutshuru, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in July, based on first-hand witness accounts, according to a statement. ‘The number is at least 319 killed, including 48 women and 19 children,’ has said Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, citing ‘first-hand accounts’ gathered by his office.
‘These massacres perpetrated in July are considered by the UN to be “one of the highest death tolls ever recorded in such attacks since the resurgence of the M23 in 2022”,’ has explained the High Commissioner Turk. The UN also noted the horror of these acts committed by the AFC/M23 and the Rwandan army against Congolese civilians in this part of the country. ‘The attacks against civilians perpetrated by the M23 (supported by the Rwandan army) and other armed groups are appalling,’ the UN wrote on its website. The M23-AFC and the Rwandan army, it is recalled, occupy entire swathes of Congolese territory where unspeakable atrocities are recorded on an almost daily basis.
Coffins of Genocost victims (archives)
A journalist responsible for monitoring at the National Union of the Press of Congo (UNPC) was brutally tortured and his body was found on Tuesday in Bukavu. On the last day of the 2024-2025 state exams, images circulated on social media showing scenes of brutal beatings of students in blue and white uniforms. It has been remembered that in order to take control of Goma, the martyred capital of Nord-Kivu, the Rwandan army and the M23-AFC have killed 8,500 people, according to the official toll. The UN, for its part, has sent investigators to document these serious crimes in eastern of DRC.