KIGALI (Reuters) -Rwanda on Friday rejected accusations that Kigali-backed M23 rebels massacred hundreds of people in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo in July, saying there was no credible evidence to support the claims.
Reuters first reported on the killings of farmers in Rutshuru territory by M23 rebels, citing findings by the U.N. Joint Human Rights Office.
Additional details about the massacre were reported by the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch and the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.
“The Government of Rwanda firmly rejects the findings … alleging mass killing of civilians in Binza, Rutshuru territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo by ‘M23 supported by the Rwanda Defence Force’,” the Rwanda government said in a statement.
The accusations, the statement said, “have no basis in fact and lack any evidence.”
The rebels killed at least 319 civilians, including 48 women and 19 children, in an attack on four villages in Rutshuru from July 9 to July 21, Volker Turk, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said on August 6.
Most of the victims were farmers out in their fields when they were attacked, according to Turk. In its report, Human Rights Watch said it documented at least 140 deaths but that the number of victims may exceed 300.
Persistent violence in eastern Congo threatens U.S. President Donald Trump’s vision for the region, which has been plagued by war for decades and is rich in minerals including gold, cobalt, coltan, tungsten and tin.
A peace agreement signed on June 27 in Washington by the Congolese and Rwandan foreign ministers requires Congo to “neutralise” the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Congo-based armed group that includes remnants of Rwanda’s former army and militias that carried out the 1994 genocide.
Rwanda has long denied helping M23 and says its forces act in self-defence.
(Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
