Rwandan army and M23-AFC accused of killing about 30 miners in North Kivu

Kinshasa, October 1^st, 2026 (CPA).- Serious human rights violations, including the killing of about 30 miners, were allegedly committed by the Rwandan army and M23-AFC in Rubaya, a mining town in North Kivu Province, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to a document consulted by CPA on Thursday. “The killing or murder of about 30 young miners, including the bodies of 12 young people from the Mupfuni Shanga groupement, were recovered by their respective families in deep distress. Several other bodies of miners killed in the mining area are reportedly buried there in mass graves,” said a report prepared by an organization called Women’s Awareness for Rights and Development (CFDD-RDC ASBL). “About 150 cases of enforced disappearance have been reported, with families going around different sites in the Rubaya mining area in search of their sons. Unfortunately, they found no trace providing information about the current whereabouts of their sons and cannot speak out for fear of reprisals,” the report said. According to the same document, approximately 254 minors were allegedly involved in mining activities prohibited to children and were paid in worthless currency or trinkets. In addition, 112 women and girls were reportedly victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence in the Rubaya mining area. The report also noted the continued existence of places where sexual exploitation and abuse take place in the town of Rubaya, including a location commonly known as Kishanga, where several hundred girls aged between 13 and 17 reportedly engage in transactional sex or survival sex under the control of pimps. “Among the children, young people and women who are victims in this mining area (Rubaya) are alleged foreigners who entered illegally from Rwanda and other countries in the sub-region,” the report said.“All artisanal miners employed in the illicit exploitation of minerals in Rubaya who demand payment for their work are either summarily executed, subjected to enforced disappearance, or arrested and subsequently tortured without hesitation,” the report concluded.