Amnesty Accuses M23 of War Crimes at Eastern Congo Mines

Amnesty International has accused M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo of abuses against artisanal miners that it says may amount to war crimes, including unlawful killings, torture and forced labour at rebel-controlled mining sites.

The rights group said in a report released on Monday that it interviewed 26 people to document alleged abuses between January 2025 and March 2026, focusing on a coltan mine near Rubaya in North Kivu and a gold mine at Lomera in South Kivu. Sixteen of those interviewed, among them miners and civilians, said they had been tortured or mistreated by M23 fighters or by security guards working at the mines.

Amnesty said it recorded violations that likely constitute crimes under international law, listing summary killings, torture, arbitrary detention, forced labour and pillage. The report gave details of the deaths of 18 artisanal miners at the two sites. Witnesses and relatives said 10 were beaten to death, two were shot, and six who were abducted were later found dead.

The group also said it found evidence that gold was being moved out of M23-held areas of eastern Congo into neighbouring Rwanda along smuggling routes.

M23 and Rwandan authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

M23, which is backed by Rwanda, controls dozens of artisanal mines across North Kivu and South Kivu, where tens of thousands of miners extract minerals used in much of the world's electronics, including mobile phones. United Nations experts, the United States and Congo's government have previously accused Rwanda of benefiting from Congolese minerals in return for supporting the rebels, an allegation Rwanda denies.

Eastern Congo has endured decades of violence involving government forces and various armed groups, and the recent resurgence of M23 has deepened the conflict and worsened an already severe humanitarian crisis.

The Rubaya site is a major coltan mining area that has seen repeated disasters, including a collapse in March that killed at least 200 people and a landslide in January that left around 200 dead. The Lomera gold mine suffered a collapse last year that trapped numerous miners.

According to Amnesty, Congo produced more than half of the world's tantalum, an ore derived from coltan and used in smartphones among other products, last year, with Rubaya alone accounting for about 15% of global output. The country also exported more than 28 tons of gold that year, the group said.