M23: HRW is working with the Kinshasa administration

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Wednesday, March 12, that the AFC/M23 insurrection in eastern DR Congo is harassing and attacking journalists, activists, and nonviolent opponents in areas under its control. The rebel alliance has “categorically rejected the unfounded allegations” made in the report.

Rebel spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka rebutted, calling the HRW release a clear attempt to disseminate misinformation, deceive the population, and further the Kinshasa regime’s objectives.

Claims like HRW’s have also recently been refuted by individuals like former Belgian senator Alain Destexhe, who visited rebel-controlled Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, and discovered that the city was tranquil, with people going about their daily lives as usual. According to Destexhe, “the M23 forces’ reputation as incorruptible marks a clear break with the previous situation.”

The reality in rebel-controlled area was corroborated by Teddy Mazina, a Burundian photojournalist, and Rutendo Matinyarare, a well-known Zimbabwean activist and internet voice in the Pan-African sphere.

“Our organization has never arrested, intimidated, or persecuted any journalist or activist,” Kanyuka said on X. We urge HRW to substantiate its assertions with hard data. Given its established connections to the Kinshasa government, HRW’s legitimacy is seriously in doubt.

“This abuse of power to damage the reputation of our company is strongly condemned. As the integrity of HRW’s publications has been damaged by its relationship with the Kinshasa regime, we urge the public and foreign partners to reject this biased report and instead examine it closely.

Kanyuka reaffirmed that AFC/M23 has consistently supported press freedom and is still accessible to journalists from around the world. Media workers can work “within liberated areas without restrictions,” censorship, or imposed narratives, he said.

“We firmly believe that journalists have a fundamental right to independent reporting and transparency.”

He added that it’s crucial to make clear that on February 13, “we publicly addressed, through a tweet, the circumstances surrounding the death of musician Indego.”

Internal disputes between several factions of the Wazalendo militia and the Congolese army (FARDC) were the cause of the musician’s murder, he claimed at the time, “a fact that some media outlets have deliberately ignored in favour of misleading narratives.”

“Banyamulenge’s horrific human rights abuses are being disregarded.”

In an interview with The New Times, Congolese activist Adele Kibasumba expressed her horror at HRW’s disregard for the Congolese government’s ceaseless targeting and murder of unarmed Banyamulenge civilians in Minembwe, Uvira, and the surrounding areas in South Kivu Province, as well as the daily murders of the Hema people in Ituri Province.

The Banyamulenge continue to face constant Sukhoi [fighter jet] bombings in Minembwe, and it is horrifying that Human Rights Watch has decided to overlook these heinous human rights crimes, she said. The indiscriminate bombing of villages has forced children to drop out of school. HRW is silent while the Hema people in Ituri are being massacred on a regular basis.

Their selective coverage of violations of human rights is quite concerning. It seems as though they have decided for themselves whose suffering is important to acknowledge and whose lives are unimportant.

According to Bertrand Bisimwa, deputy coordinator of the AFC/M23 rebellion, the government in Kinshasa has not only failed to dismantle the “more than 200 armed groups ravaging our land,” but has frequently actively enabled their existence for political and economic gain. For decades, eastern DR Congo has been destabilized by persistent governance failures, corruption, and hollow promises.

As Western narratives frequently assert, Bisimwa stated in a post on X: “We, the AFC-M23, did not pick up arms out of avarice or a craving for power. This war wasn’t started by us; it was imposed on us. Peace has never really existed in Eastern Congo, and we will not accept this as the end. In contrast to a select group of elites, like as [Felix] Tshisekedi’s family and friends, we strive for peace, stability, and governance that benefits the people.

In 2021, a large Congolese army alliance, which includes the FDLR, a terrorist outfit located in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and created by the surviving masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, began attacking the M23 rebels. In addition, the Congolese army alliance includes 1,600 European mercenaries, South Africa-led SADC soldiers, more than 10,000 Burundian troops, and UN peacekeepers.

The M23 rebels have joined the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), a broader rebel group formed in December 2023 and headed by Corneille Nangaa, the former head of the Congolese national electoral commission (CENI).

In spite of what seems to be a global campaign of disinformation, the rebel movement is fighting for governance that upholds fundamental human rights, protects all Congolese residents, and tackles the underlying causes of violence. DR Congo is rife with corruption, nepotism, tribalism, and genocide ideology, all of which the rebels have pledged to eradicate.