DR Congo: Paul Rusesabagina Denounces Atrocities Attributed to Rwanda and the M23 in a Damning Human Rights Watch Report

Human Rights Watch published a particularly damning report on 10 June 2026 detailing serious abuses committed in areas controlled by the M23 and Rwandan forces in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Titled “Death Was Everywhere: Arbitrary Detention, Killings and Forced Recruitment by the M23 and the Rwanda Defence Force,” the report documents mass round-ups, arbitrary detention, summary executions, torture, forced labour and the use of child soldiers.

Human Rights Watch says its findings are based in part on 102 interviews conducted in person or by telephone with former detainees, as well as 29 additional interviews with relatives, witnesses and military, diplomatic, media and United Nations sources.

The organisation also says it analysed satellite imagery, photographs, eight verified and geolocated videos, and three-dimensional reconstructions of the Rumangabo and Tshanzu camps.

In a message sent to BADRAMA TV, Paul Rusesabagina highlighted the report’s main findings and denounced what he described as a systematic and organised campaign against the Congolese population.

Mass and systematic forced recruitment

Following the capture of Goma at the end of January 2025, the M23 and Rwandan forces allegedly carried out large-scale round-ups.

Human Rights Watch estimates that approximately 1,700 people were aboard eleven trucks photographed and filmed outside Goma’s Unity Stadium on 30 January 2025.

Those transported reportedly included members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, police officers, civilians, public officials and people suspected of belonging to Wazalendo groups.

They were allegedly taken to Rumangabo and Tshanzu, in Rutshuru territory, where they were subjected to military training, ideological re-education or forced integration into the M23.

According to the testimonies collected, these operations later spread across Goma, Bukavu, Sake, Rutshuru, Masisi and several other areas under M23 control.

People were reportedly abducted from streets, private homes, churches, schools, public meetings and other gathering places.

Young men and adolescent boys were said to have been particularly targeted. Human Rights Watch documented detainees as young as 12.

Many civilians with no demonstrated connection to the military were allegedly arrested on the basis of real or suspected links to the FDLR, Wazalendo or other groups opposed to the M23.

Summary executions and deaths in detention

The report describes the Rumangabo and Tshanzu camps as places of constant violence, where death became part of daily life for detainees.

Former prisoners said they witnessed fatal beatings, summary executions and punishments that could result in death.

According to their accounts, some people were killed for attempting to escape or for such minor acts as drinking water, eating or urinating without permission.

Witnesses also said they had buried bodies in large pits. Satellite imagery analysed by Human Rights Watch reportedly identified areas matching the locations described by several former detainees as graves or mass burial sites.

Between February and November 2025, former detainees said they saw dozens of prisoners die from executions, untreated injuries, starvation, dehydration or abuse.

Human Rights Watch estimates that hundreds of people, and possibly more, may have died in the two camps during 2025.

One testimony quoted in the report captures the scale of the horror: “Death was everywhere.”

According to Paul Rusesabagina, executions and beatings were also used to terrorise other detainees and force them to accept recruitment into the M23.

Inhumane detention conditions

Former detainees described extreme overcrowding, severe shortages of food and water, almost no medical care and appalling sanitation.

Some prisoners were allegedly forced to dig and clear roads, cut wood, carry heavy loads or fetch water over long distances.

Beatings and corporal punishment were reportedly systematic.

At Tshanzu, some detainees were allegedly confined in holes dug into the ground and beaten repeatedly.

For weeks or months, many prisoners were prevented from contacting their families, who often had no idea where they were being held or whether they were still alive.

The direct role of Rwandan forces

Several former detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they identified Rwandan instructors, guards and soldiers inside the camps.

They said they recognised them by Rwanda Defence Force uniforms, equipment, accents and the use of Kinyarwanda and English during training.

Detainees were reportedly punished for speaking Lingala, a language widely used in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Former prisoners also described an ideological programme, sometimes referred to as “Kitamaduni,” accompanied by extremely harsh physical and military training.

The report states that senior M23 officials, as well as Rwandan units and instructors, were present in the training centres.

Human Rights Watch argues that Rwanda’s military presence and its direction of M23 operations demonstrate effective control over parts of eastern DR Congo.

The organisation says the situation may meet the legal threshold of belligerent occupation and could engage the criminal responsibility of Rwandan officials, including under the principle of command responsibility.

Recruitment and use of child soldiers

The report also documents the presence of children, both boys and girls, who were forcibly recruited or detained in the camps.

Some were allegedly subjected to abuse, forced labour and military training. Others were reportedly used as guards or compelled to take part in violence against detainees.

Human Rights Watch says that murder, torture, cruel treatment, corporal punishment, unlawful forced recruitment, forced labour and the use of child soldiers amount to war crimes.

The organisation is also calling for these abuses to be investigated as possible crimes against humanity because of their widespread or systematic character against a civilian population.

Officials named in the report

The report identifies several military officials and commanders whom Human Rights Watch says should be investigated and sanctioned.

Those named include Rwandan Brigadier General Stanislas Gashugi, commander of Rwanda’s special forces, as well as M23 commanders Léon Kanyamibwa and Bertin Masozera.

Human Rights Watch is urging the relevant governments to impose sanctions on commanders responsible for serious abuses in training centres and places of detention.

The organisation is also calling for independent investigations, access for international investigators to the affected areas, cooperation with the International Criminal Court and the proper exhumation of mass graves so that victims can be identified and their remains returned to their families.

According to Human Rights Watch, the M23 rejected a request for a visit in October 2025. The organisation also says it wrote to M23 president Bertrand Bisimwa, Rwanda’s minister of justice and Rwanda’s minister of defence to discuss the findings, but had received no response before publication.

Paul Rusesabagina’s reaction

Paul Rusesabagina described the report as one of the harshest documents ever published by Human Rights Watch on the role of Rwanda and the M23 in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He said the incidents described were not isolated abuses, but part of a systematic, organised and supervised campaign.

In his analysis, he called for the findings to be considered alongside what he described as the instrumentalisation and conditioning of members of the Banyamulenge community during the first Congo wars, when some were allegedly used in operations involving massacres of Hutu refugees and Congolese civilians in acts of reprisal.

This statement reflects Paul Rusesabagina’s position. It should not be interpreted as assigning collective criminal responsibility to the entire Banyamulenge community, since responsibility for international crimes must be established individually and on the basis of evidence.

Paul Rusesabagina also publicly condemned @CoulibalyBojana, accusing her of supporting individuals he described as war criminals.

He argued that defenders of Paul Kagame’s government routinely respond to critical reports by accusing Human Rights Watch of lying and portraying any denunciation as an attack on Rwanda or its president.

“Shame on @CoulibalyBojana for supporting these war criminals. As usual, she will tell us that Human Rights Watch is lying shamelessly and that the whole world is against Paul Kagame,” Paul Rusesabagina said.

A call for justice

Human Rights Watch is calling on the Rwandan and Congolese authorities to open prompt, transparent, independent and impartial investigations into all the alleged abuses.

The organisation is demanding the release of arbitrarily detained civilians, an immediate end to child recruitment, family access to detainees and the prosecution of those responsible for serious crimes.

It is also calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged international crimes committed in connection with forced recruitment campaigns and detention in military camps in eastern Congo.

For BADRAMA TV, the allegations documented in the report demand a full international investigation, the identification of victims, the protection of witnesses and the prosecution of all those responsible, regardless of political or military rank.

The Congolese people have a right to truth, justice and an end to impunity.