CASCR : condemnation of the murders committed by the RDF/M23 in RDC

COLLECTIVE OF RWANDAN CIVIL SOCIETY ASSOCIATIONS (C.A.S.C.R)

Collectif des Associations de la Société Civile Rwandaise

Impuzamashyirahamwe ya Sosiyete Sivili Nyarwanda

15, rue des Dardanelles, 4800 Verviers, Belgique

E-mail : ccscr.cadredeconcertation@gmail.com

PRESS RELEASE No. 2/CASCR/2025

SUBJECT : CONDEMNATION OF THE MURDERS COMMITTED BY THE RWANDA DEFENSE FORCES (RDF) IN ASSOCIATION WITH THOSE OF THE M23 TERRORIST MOVEMENT AGAINST CONGOLESE PEOPLE AND RWANDAN REFUGEES IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC) SINCE 1994.

We, members of the COLLECTIVE OF RWANDAN CIVIL SOCIETY ASSOCIATIONS (CASCR), are saddened by the large-scale killings and other human rights violations committed by the Rwandan Defense forces in association with the M23 terrorist movement against the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwandan refugees who have fled to that country since 1994, and we strongly condemn these crimes.

1. Condemnation of crimes against all victims in the DRC

These military forces have already taken control of major cities in the east, including Sake, Goma, and Bukavu, and intend to attack other neighbouring towns, their primary objective being to exterminate the local population who have been victims of these atrocities. In these massacres, they have continued to target innocent Rwandan refugees, misleading the international community into believing that they are pursuing them as criminals of the FDLR¹ group who committed the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, as reported by spokespersons for the authorities in that country.

As residents of these regions continue to denounce them through social media and various media outlets, these crimes are confirmed by various documented reports from human rights and peacekeeping organizations, UN experts and affiliated organizations, as well as by the DRC government. All these reportsgenerally show that many people living in these areas were exterminated and that in the Goma region alone, more than 3,000 people were killed and more than 70,000 were displaced (Schwikowski, 2025)²

These reports also reveal that these Rwandan state military (RDF) and M23 soldiers not only killed people, but also raped women, forcibly disappeared most of the men who refused to join their troops and even looted their property to Rwanda. In the areas they occupied, these soldiers also confiscated the land of the inhabitants to settle the families of their relatives and other people who agreed or were forced to submit to them.

2. Outrage at the lack of protection for Rwandan refugees in the DRC

Furthermore, we are still saddened by the fact that international organizations such as the UN itself, its refugee agency (UNHCR)³, and other human rights organizations operating in this region, refuse to publicly report the atrocities committed against these Rwandan refugees in particular. We continue to wonder why they continue to turn a blind eye and remain silent! Why are the laws that protect other refugees around the world not being used for these helpless Rwandan refugees, as if they should be deprived of their rights to protection?

Indeed, it turned out that these killers had already committed all these massacres in the areas they occupied, but after taking the cities of Goma and Bukavu, they immediately hunted down the Rwandan refugees who had fled into the forests. Apart from a few reports on various social media platforms and from the Red Cross showing photos of the many bodies of people murdered in these areas and disrespectfully buried, these organizations have not published anything else on this matter.

The United Nations (UN) has a mission to preserve peace and protect the rights of all people, whether in their homeland or as refugees in another country, without discrimination. Its role in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is not merely to observe massacres but to intervene and ensure that these refugees are not killed by these forces without being worried.

Given that to this day, these crimes continue to be committed against Congolese and Rwandan refugees, we take this opportunity to remind and call on the United Nations (UN), other organizations operating in the eastern region of the DRC and countries committed to peace there, not to ignore that Rwandan refugees need security and well-being like all other refugees in the world, in accordance with international law relating to their protection. As security in Rwanda is still far from assured, these refugees cannot voluntarily return to their homeland, especially since they continue to be intimidated by Rwandan leaders who treat them as enemies of the country instead of correcting their poor governance.

3. Demands of the Collective of Rwandan Civil Society Associations (CASCR)

For all these serious reasons related to the continued extermination of innocent people in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwandan refugees living in the aforementioned areas:

1°. The CASCR calls on States and International organizations to compel the Rwandan government and the M23 to cease the war, to stop invading and violating the sovereignty of the Republic of Congo (DRC), to put an end to the acts of massacre, looting, and destruction of state infrastructure that endanger the security of the Congolese people, Rwandan refugees, and the environment, and to ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are held accountable so that security can return to this country.

2° The CACSR welcomes the progress made, the decisions and resolutions taken by international and regional organizations, notably the AU, the EAC, SADC, as well as by the countries that have taken measures to restore lasting peace in the region, without bias, by mobilizing the necessary resources to assist the victims of these criminal acts.

3° The CASCR specifically requests :

• The United Nations (UN) and other human rights organizations operating in the DRC to continue investigating the crimes committed by the RDF and M23 forces against these innocent people (Congolese and Rwandan refugees) so that all perpetrators are brought to justice and punished, primarily the senior leaders of these troops.

• The Congolese government to continue to ensure the safety of the Rwandan refugees it has hosted since 1994, when they fled massacres by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) forces; while gratefully acknowledging the measures it has already taken to protect these refugee rights in accordance with international humanitarian law.

• The forces of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and the SADC countries, including Tanzania, South Africa, Malawi, and Burundi, which are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; to continue their humanitarian efforts aimed at restoring peace in this country and the Great Lakes region, and to cooperate in protecting Rwandan refugees and mistreated Congolese citizens who continue to be killed.

• To civil society organizations and activists campaigning for the defence of human rights around the world (such as the Civil Society of South Kivu in the DRC and civil society in Rwanda), to support our initiative by also condemning this grave injustice that citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwandan refugees in this country have been victims of since 1994.

                                                                                 Done in Belgium on March, 20^th 2025

                                                                                  CASCR BOARD OF DIRECTORS⁴

MEMBERS

1) Initiative HUMURA (Belgique) 2) CLIIR : Centre de Lutte contre l’Impunité et l’Injustice au Rwanda (Belgique) 3) Projet-DVJP: Projet pour la Réconciliation par le Droit, la Vérité, la Justice et le Pardon (Belgique) 4) RIPRODHOR : Réseau International pour la Promotion et la Défense des Droits de l’Homme au Rwanda (France) 5) Justice et Réconciliation, ASBL (Belgique) 6) Stichting Tolerantie Benimpuhwe (Pays-Bas) 7) Global Campaign for Rwandan’s Human Rights (Royaume-Uni) 8) IBUKABOSE RENGERABOSE (France) 9) LECP : Liberté, Expression, Culture et Paix (France) 10) RDTJ : Rwandan Platform for Dialogue, Truth, and Justice (Afrique du Sud) 11) VGRR : Global Voice of Rwandan Refugees (Afrique du Sud) 12) Activiste 1: HAVUGIMANA Pierre Célestin (Belgique) 13) Activiste 2 : AKAYEZU MUHUMUZA Valentin (Pays-Bas) 14) Activiste 3 : MPORAMUSANGA Jean-Népomuscène (Belgique).