UN accuses rebels in Democratic Republic of the Congo of killing children

A child displaced by the fighting between M23 rebels and government soldiers holds a damaged helmet at the camp in Goma (Moses Sawasawa/AP)

The UN human rights chief has accused Rwanda-backed rebels who seized a second major city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo of killing children and attacking hospitals and warehouses storing humanitarian aid.

Volker Turk said on Tuesday that his office “confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week. We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons”.

He did not provide any details or refer to specific events, but UN agencies have previously accused both government forces and the rebels of recruiting children.

The United Nations Human Rights Council earlier this month launched a commission that will investigate atrocities, including rapes and killings akin to “summary executions” committed by both sides since the beginning of the year.

#DRC: the situation is deteriorating sharply - summary executions, incl of children, cases of sexual & gender-based violence.

Risks of deeper & wider conflict are frighteningly real. The violence must stop immediately. All parties must respect humanitarian law - @volker_turk

— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) February 18, 2025

The M23 rebels on Sunday captured Bukavu, a city of 1.3 million people, after seizing Goma, 63 miles to the north last month. At least 3,000 were reported killed and thousands displaced in the Goma fighting.

The M23 is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of the country’s trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that is critical for much of the world’s technology.

The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda, according to UN experts.

Rwanda accuses the Democratic Republic of the Congo of enlisting Hutu fighters responsible for the 1994 genocide of minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

M23 rebels guard the South Kivu province administrative office in Bukavu (Janvier Barhahiga/AP)

M23 says it is fighting to protect Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination and wants to transform the country from a failed into a modern state, although critics say it is a pretext for Rwanda’s involvement.

Unlike in 2012, when the M23 briefly seized Goma and withdrew after international pressure, analysts have said the rebels this time are eyeing political power.

The decades-long fighting has displaced more than six million people in the region, creating the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

A Ugandan military official said on Tuesday that Ugandan troops had entered the eastern city of Bunia to assist the army in quelling deadly violence by armed ethnic groups.