The Rwandan army and the M23 armed group have throughout 2024 indiscriminately shelled displacement camps and other densely populated areas near Goma in eastern Congo.

The Congolese armed forces and allied militias have increased the risk faced by displaced people in the camps by deploying artillery nearby and by entering the camps, where they have committed abuses against residents.

The United Nations, the African Union, and concerned governments should press both sides to stop violating international humanitarian and human rights law, promote the protection of civilians, and support sanctions and prosecutions of commanders responsible for war crimes.

The Rwandan army and the M23 armed group have indiscriminately shelled displacement camps and other densely populated areas near Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo throughout 2024, Human Rights Watch said today. The Congolese armed forces (Forces armées de la République démocratique du Congo, FARDC) and allied militias have increased the risk faced by displaced people in the camps by deploying artillery nearby. Both sides have killed and raped camp residents, interfered with aid delivery, and committed other abuses. Human Rights Watch also issued a question-and-answer document about the application of the laws of war to the situation.

In January the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and the M23 armed group neared the town of Sake, 25 kilometers west of Goma, cutting off the North Kivu provincial capital’s supply routes. The M23 with Rwandan forces have since expanded their control over North Kivu, the armed group’s largest gains since its resurgence in 2021, according to the United Nations. 

“As the conflict between Rwandan and Congolese forces and their allied militias has approached Goma, the area’s residents and over half a million displaced people have been increasingly at risk of being caught in the fighting and denied humanitarian aid,” said Clémentine de Montjoye, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Rwanda and Congo should end their support for abusive armed groups, abide by their laws-of-war obligations, and allow unfettered access to humanitarian aid.” 

The UN, the African Union, and concerned governments should press the parties to the conflict, including non-state armed groups, to cease violating international humanitarian law, promote the protection of civilians, and support sanctions and prosecutions of commanders responsible for war crimes, Human Rights Watch said. 

Between May and July 2024, Human Rights Watch researchers visited the displacement camps or sites of Bulengo, Bushagara, Kanyaruchinya, Lushagala, Mugunga (also referred to as “8ème CEPAC”), and Shabindu-Kashaka around Goma, and interviewed 65 victims of abuses, witnesses, and camp authorities. Those interviewed included nine survivors of sexual violence and five people with credible information about sexual violence. Researchers also interviewed 31 humanitarian, diplomatic, UN, and military sources. Human Rights Watch reviewed and analyzed photographs and videos of sites after attacks shared online or directly with researchers; photographs of weapon remnants; and satellite imagery to determine the distance of reported artillery positions and targets from displacement camps.

On September 2 Human Rights Watch emailed its preliminary findings to Congolese and Rwandan authorities, but has received no replies at time of publication.

As the Rwandan military and M23 have gained ground closer to Goma, over half a million people have sought refuge in displacement camps surrounding the city, pushing the total number of displaced people in North Kivu to about 2.4 million. These forces have used heavy artillery in attacks that have indiscriminately struck densely populated areas in apparent violation of the laws of war. 

Human Rights Watch documented five apparently unlawful attacks by Rwandan forces and the M23 since January 2024, in which artillery or rocket fire struck displacement camps or populated areas near Goma. On May 3, Rwandan or M23 forces launched at least 3 rockets into displacement camps around Goma, killing at least 17 civilians, including 15 children, in a site known as 8ème CEPAC. The Congolese army placed artillery positions and other military objectives close to the camps, putting civilians at unnecessary risk.

“We don’t know what to do anymore,” a displaced man in Mugunga camp said after the May 3 strikes. “To stay or return home, it seems it’ll have the same outcome. Death is with us everywhere we go.”

Congolese soldiers and a coalition of abusive militia known as “Wazalendo” (“patriots” in Swahili) have opened fire inside displacement camps, killing and wounding civilians. They have also raped women, including women in the camps and others searching for food and firewood nearby. In the Kanyaruchinya camp, they detained people in a pit in the ground to extort them. M23 fighters raped women who crossed the front line in search of food.

In August the humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders, MSF) said more than 1 in 10 young women in camps in and around Goma had reported being raped between November 2023 and April 2024, with this number as high as 17 percent in some camps.

The fighting close to Goma and the camps has seriously affected the delivery of humanitarian aid and created food shortages in the city. The Congolese forces and allied militias deployed close to the displacement camps have subjected them to counterfire from opposing belligerent parties. “This is affecting humanitarian access,” an aid agency official said. “Now, as soon as the FARDC start firing artillery, the [nongovernmental organizations] and UN start leaving the camps.” 

“We’ve had a big influx of patients since February,” said a doctor in Goma. “The bombs are the cause, as well as the Wazalendo, who are out of control. The bullets kill the men and youths; the explosive weapons kill the women and children. During the day, the men go to work and are not in the camps. We are treating more children below age 5.”

The armed conflict in eastern Congo is bound by the Geneva Conventions of 1949, including Common Article 3, and customary international humanitarian law. The laws of war prohibit deliberate or indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects. Warring parties must take all feasible precautions to minimize civilian harm, including by avoiding placing military targets near densely populated areas. The laws of war also prohibit as war crimes killing anyone in custody, torture, sexual violence, and other forms of mistreatment. All warring parties need to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Anyone who commits or orders serious violations of the laws of war with criminal intent is responsible for war crimes. Commanders may also be liable as a matter of command responsibility if they knew or should have known about abuses by forces under their control but did not stop or punish the crimes. A state that knowingly provides weapons to abusive armed groups may be complicit in war crimes. 

In addition, all parties should avoid using explosive weapons in populated areas. The use of explosive weapons with wide area effects such as heavy artillery in populated areas frequently results in indiscriminate attacks, in violation of the laws of war. In addition to their immediate deadly effects, these weapons also have long-term indirect, or “reverberating,” effects.  

The European Union and the United States have imposed sanctions on leaders of abusive armed groups in eastern Congo, including the M23, and on several senior Congolese and Rwandan officials responsible for supporting abusive armed groups.

“All parties to the conflict in North Kivu have displayed a callous disregard for the lives of civilians, whose protection is enshrined in international law,” de Montjoye said. “Congo and Rwanda should recognize that abuses by one warring side never justify abuses by the other, end their support to abusive armed groups, and hold accountable anyone responsible for war crimes.”