M23 rebel group responsible for massacre of 300 civilians in DR Congo, says govt

Democratic Republic of Congo’s industry minister Julien Paluku has blamed the rebel group, M23, for killing 300 people in eastern North Kivu province last week, reports AFP news agency.

The government earlier pegged the number at 100 but increased the toll count as the days went by.

“Every community has been able to record the people who died from units in Kishishe and its environs,” Paluku, who was the governor of North Kivu province from 2007 to 2019, told the reporters on Monday.

He informed that the updated numbers were collated with the help of civil society and an “organisation grouping all the communities” in the region.

“One community alone has more than 105 deaths. We are looking at around 300 deaths of people known to be regular inhabitants of Kishishe, who have nothing to do with FDLR [Hutus from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda] and no connection with the mai-mai,” a community-based militia group, he added.

He said that all the fatalities were civilians and at least 17 were believed to be children.

The insurgent group, however, has disputed the massacre accusations and said that eight civilians were killed in the village on November 29. It claimed that the civilians died due to “stray bullets”.

The M23, also known as the March 23 movement, is a Congolese Tutsi rebel military group composed of ethnic Tutsi. It is based in eastern areas of the DRC, mainly in North Kivu province.

After remaining dormant for years, it took up arms again in November last year and seized the town of Bunagana on the border with Uganda in June. In October, it gain went into offensive mode after a brief period of lull.