Source: Seattle Times
“The Rwanda-backed rebel group M23 has denied involvement in a series of massacres in eastern Congo which were detailed in a report published by a rights group Wednesday. Lawrence Kanyuka, spokesperson for the M23 military, called the Human Rights Watch report ‘fake and a falsification of reality’ and accused the group of spreading ‘extremist propaganda’ in a statement late Wednesday. M23 is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups fighting for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east. Both M23 and the Congolese military have previously been accused of violence against civilians. … Human Rights Watch accused M23 of killing over 140 civilians as part of a military campaign against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group made up mostly of ethnic Hutu fighters.” (08/21/25)