Kinshasa, December 22nd, 2025 (CPA). – The dramatic human rights situation in the territories occupied by the Rwandan army and its M23-AFC auxiliaries in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was discussed on Monday during a day of reflection in Kinshasa, organized by a human rights organization. « 6.5 million displaced Congolese people have found themselves in Beni, Kinshasa and other unoccupied Congolese territories, as well as in Tanzania and Burundi, following the occupation of Goma, Bukavu and other territories, while more than 7.1 million children are suffering from malnutrition. The situation is dire and requires urgent intervention, » according to the report by the National Association of Victims of Congo (ANVC), read by Jospin Baluge, its program manager.
The report revealed how women and girls in Goma, Bukavu and other occupied territories in this part of the country are being raped and continue to be raped by elements of the Rwandan army and its AFC-M23 auxiliaries. « Men and children are either killed or forcibly recruited into the AFC-M23. Traditional chiefs in localities such as Kashebere and others have been executed. In Malewusa, there was even a massacre last February, » said the program manager, also revealing cases of gender-based violence (GBV), where 1,300 girls were raped in public and now suffer from fistulas. For him, in Goma, Nyirangongo, Rutshu and other localities in North Kivu, the situation is very dramatic. As these areas are occupied, people do not know how to raise their voices, explained the ANVC program manager.
In Uvira, the situation took a different turn when the army and the M23-AFC sought to seize localities in this part of South Kivu, in the Haut-Plateaux region. « From December 1st to 10th, 2025, the Rwandan army and its AFC-M23 auxiliaries killed more than 74 people and wounded 83 others. On 7 December, 20 bodies were burned alive between Sange and Kamanyola, and a woman was raped by 24 M23-AFC soldiers and became the sex slave of one of the terrorist leaders, » said Jospin Baluge. He also reported the case of a 16-year-old girl who was raped in front of her father, who died because he could not bear the shock. In the ANVC report, women victims of numerous abuses, including rape, testified, Jospin Baluge added. ‘Every day, we bury the dead in Uvira,’ lamented program manager Baluge.
Call for national mobilization
The ANVC coordinator called for national mobilization so that voices are raised in Kinshasa and other cities across the country to put an end to these abuses. He invited the international community to get involved in putting pressure on Rwanda to stop exterminating the populations in eastern DRC.
« In the highlands, there are Rwandans who are leaving the villages and taking to the river to invade the Congolese fields. They want to balkanize our country, » said Sadiki Shemikobya, coordinator of the ANVC. Finally, he called on the government, through its Ministry of Social Affairs, to take care of the displaced people who have arrived in Kinshasa, Kisangani and other cities in the country, who have no housing and are spending the night on terraces. ACP/