The United Nations human rights chief said Rwanda-backed M23 fighters killed at least 319 civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo during July, an allegation that underscored continuing violence despite diplomatic efforts to establish a permanent ceasefire.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the reported dead included 48 women and 19 children. Citing first-hand accounts, he said the killings took place in four villages in Rutshuru territory, in North Kivu province. He described the toll as among the largest documented in attacks since M23 re-emerged as a major force in 2022.
The figures were presented by the U.N. human rights office and attributed to M23; the supplied report did not provide an independent judicial finding. Türk called for attacks on civilians to stop immediately and for those responsible to be held accountable. His office also documented attacks across North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri, three eastern provinces affected by persistent conflict.
The allegations came weeks after the Congolese government and M23 signed a declaration of principles intended to advance a permanent ceasefire. The Doha document committed them to refrain from trying to seize new positions by force and from spreading hate propaganda. It also outlined the restoration of state authority in eastern Congo and direct negotiations toward a comprehensive peace agreement.
Türk said civilians were still enduring the consequences of fighting despite the ceasefire commitment. He urged the signatories and mediators involved in both the Doha process and a separate Washington agreement between Congo and Rwanda to convert their diplomatic undertakings into safety and concrete progress on the ground.
The Washington deal followed years of tension between the neighboring states. Rwanda has a long history of involvement in eastern Congo, and M23 has expanded its control with Rwandan support, according to the supplied account. In the week before the U.N. statement, Congo and Rwanda agreed to an outline for an economic framework brokered by the U.S. State Department as part of that process. Presidents Félix Tshisekedi of Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda were expected to meet later to advance the agreement, whose provisions had not yet been implemented.
M23 has taken large areas of Congo’s mineral-rich east since returning to sustained combat in 2021. Its offensive has intensified a humanitarian emergency in a region already shaped by three decades of armed conflict and foreign intervention. Gold and coltan deposits are among the resources that have made the east strategically important and fiercely contested.
Numerous ceasefires and truces have failed to produce lasting security. The July death toll alleged by the U.N. placed civilian protection at the center of the test facing the latest negotiations: whether formal commitments can change conditions in communities exposed to armed groups.
