It is alleged that hundreds of “Hutu farmers” were massacred by rebels from the March 23 Movement (M23) and the regular Rwandan army within twelve days in the Rutshuru territory in the North Kivu province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Are these reports from the Reuters news agency and United Nations employees accurate? What really happened?
Besides the troubling chronology and the considerable variation in figures within a few days, as well as the absence of material evidence or situated testimonies supporting such claims, our investigation highlights the role of Nyatura militiamen and their relatives in creating and disseminating this news. The situation on the ground is different. Furthermore, attacks on civilians carried out by the Nyatura-CMC during the same period went unnoticed.
An accusation with very fragile foundations
It all starts on the morning of 31 July 2025. Reuters publishes a story in which a member of the UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) claims that “An M23 rebel attack on farmers and other civilians in east Democratic Republic of Congo killed 169 people earlier this month”, describing it as “one of the deadliest incidents since the group resurgence”. The news agency acknowledges that it has not been able to independently confirm the killings. “But a local activist cited witnesses as describing M23 combatants using guns and machetes to kill scores of civilians”, the media outlet added. Based on this same anonymous source, Reuters also claims that “Hutu farmers [are being] targeted”. The article receives little attention.
A week later, on 6 August 2025, the UNJHRO stated through the voice of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that, “according to first-hand accounts, at least 319 civilians were killed by the M23, backed by members of the Rwanda Defence Force, between 9 and 21 July in four villages in the Rutshuru territory, in North Kivu Province – one of the largest documented death tolls in such attacks since the M23’s resurgence in 2022. Most of the victims, including at least 48 women and 19 children, were local farmers”. The death toll had almost doubled within five days and now included women and children.
From Paris, Reuters immediately writes another article on the subject, again mentioning “M23 combatants using guns and machetes”. The other two major international news agencies, AFP and the Associated Press, also published dispatches. This time, the information was widely reported: RFI, Le Monde, La Libre Belgique, Radio Canada, Al Jazeera and ABC News, among others.
The UNJHRO bases its accusations of war crimes on anonymous “direct testimonies”, but does not provide further details about the witnesses quality or position. For its part, Reuters relies on the UNJHRO and the words of a single anonymous “local activist”. The names of no victims are known, nor are the places of their burial.
We would have liked to know more. However, when we contacted the journalist behind the Reuters article, she told us that she could not speak to us without her employer’s permission. An agent of the UNJHRO present in Goma, North Kivu, who was also contacted, declared that he was not authorised to speak to us. The head of the UNJHRO in Kinshasa referred us to the local representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The latter informed us that he had been on holiday since mid-July.
Neither the press agency nor the UN office produced any material evidence to support these terrible charges. Violent incidents of all kinds occur extremely frequently in this region. Although these areas are remote, events of this nature invariably produce elements that can be gathered, cross-referenced and contextualised, as some media outlets have already demonstrated and as African Facts is now working on.
African Facts was able to consult a letter written on 28 July 2025 by the UNJHRO office in Kinshasa and addressed to the M23 regarding “allegations of human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law”. Sent only three days before the publication of the Reuters article and nine days before the high commissioner’s public statements, the letter stated that “169 people (mostly civilians) were allegedly killed by the M23”.
How did “allegations” become “accusations” ? Why did the UNJHRO switch from the conditional tense, which is prudent in such circumstances, to the indicative? How did the 169 victims reported in the Reuters article of 31 July increase to 319 by 6 August?
A belligerent force at work?
Between the alleged start of the events on 9 July 2025 and the UNJHROletter on 28 July, only one source claimed that the M23 had committed crimes in the Binza area.
On Friday 25 July 2025, the Collective of Victims of Rwandan Aggression (CVAR) issued a statement in Beni, 300 km north of the alleged crime scenes. The authors claimed to be sounding the alarm about a “massacre” carried out by the M23, in which “more than 200 people perished in a cruel manner”. Could this be the source of the UNJHRO report ? “Yes, we alerted them and they asked us to put them in contact with people who are there”, confirms Patient Komayombi of the CVAR, who was contacted by African Facts. ”What has been published is only 80% of the toll, as people are still being killed in Binza to this day”, he says. “We don’t know all the names because the area is under the control of these people [the M23 Ed.]. I cannot provide a complete list”.
However, to support his claim, Patient Komayombi sent us some images. In total, there are thirteen corpses: eleven men and two women. That’s 306 fewer than the supposed number of victims.
The author of a video showing three bodies that CVAR sent us speaks in Kiswahili, a widely spoken language in eastern DRC. He’s having a strong Rwandan accent. One particular word spoken in his native language betrays him. “Here we are in Busesa. The ‘inyenzi’ [cockroaches in Kinyarwanda — a dehumanising nickname for Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide — Ed.] killed people. They cut their throats. They were killed the day before yesterday. This road is full of corpses…”, he claims, showing no more. Upon verification, the video disseminated by the CVAR to denounce a crime that allegedly took place in July 2025 actually dates back to 2024.
The CVAR seems to be the main — if not the only — source of information regarding the alleged Binza massacre and deserves closer attention. Indeed, it turns out that it is not neutral.
The CVAR was founded at the beginning of 2023 by Hutu community activists from the Rutshuru territory. In its communications, the CVAR regularly oppose what it calls the “indigenous population” against those it designates as “aggressors”, allogeneic by nature. The CVAR openly fuels the conspirationist thesis portraying Congolese Tutsis as “infiltrators” planning to “massacre” and “replace” the Congolese population. This is a rhetoric that Patient Komayombi endorses, and it is no coincidence that his organisation does use it.
Heritier Gashegu, one of the public figures of the CVAR, is the official spokesperson for the Nyatura militias of the Coalition of Movements for Change (CMC). The Nyatura militias bring together Congolese Hutu fighters from the Masisi and Rutshuru territories. They were created in 2010 on the initiative of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group formed in exile by individuals responsible for the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda and who have also committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Congo. The Nyatura adhere to the FDLR’s racist ideology and serve them locally as auxiliaries and proxies.
Two other CVAR members, Theoneste Bahati Gakuru and Barthelemy Sibomana Mushati, appear to be so heavily involved in armed activities that an arrest warrant has been issued for them by government authorities since September 2024. They stand accused of “murder, kidnapping, torture, and criminal association” in the company of one of the two main Nyatura – CMC commanders, Jean-Claude Habyarimana Mbitse, also known as Jules Mulumba. African Facts was able to consult the relevant document issued by the North Kivu military audit office.
“These people are not part of the CVAR. Theoneste Gakuru was our executive secretary, but he resigned. As for the others, they were never members of the CVAR. Since most of our activities were public, we could not prevent anyone from participating”, explains Patient Komayombi. However, during its investigation, African Facts gathered photos and videos showing Barthélemy Sibomana and Heritier Gashegu in poses that leave no doubt as to their membership of this organisation. The latter has also spoken several times on behalf of the CVAR.
In light of these findings, the already fragile foundations of the recent accusations by the UNJHRO and Reuters may well have originated from a belligerent in the conflict.
The question remains as to how the supposed number of deaths in Binza evolved. What happened between 31 July and 6 August to result in an additional 150 victims in the same place during the same period ?
We cannot make any assertions. However, a new figure emerged on 3 August. The Rutshuru Territorial Youth Council (CTJR) issued a statement. They claimed that 296 people had been “summarily executed” by the M23 during a “true carnage” in Binza. The authors are closely associated with the CVAR, co-signing press releases and co-organising events with them, and have even celebrated Christmas Eve together for several years. In short, they are indistinguishable.
“I actually published that statement”, responded Patient Twizere Sebashitsi, president of the CTJR, when contacted by African Facts. “We have all the possible datas and we keep them in our database. For us, it’s a bit difficult to disclose the information we save. They cost us a lot of money and are well guarded. We cannot disclose them”, he objects when we ask for details.
Last year, the CVAR and the CTJR notably mobilised together in Goma to demand the lifting of European Union sanctions targeting the two Nyatura-CMC militia top commanders: Claude Habyarimana Mbitse (also known as Jules Mulumba) and Dominique Kamanzi Ndarurutse.
The situation in Binza
Following the M23’s capture of the provincial capital of Goma in January 2025, the fighting moved further north. Clashes have raged in the Binza group for several months. The fighting pits the M23 against the FDLR and the Nyatura-CMC, who previously occupied the area and cultivated some of their own food there.
According to observations and testimonies collected by our correspondent in the Bwisha chiefdom, the FDLR and the Nyatura go to the fields surrounding the villages. They are wearing civilian clothes while carrying their weapons. This enables them to blend in with the farming population, making it difficult to distinguish them when clashes occur. In this context, non-combatants have indeed been shot by the M23, but to a far lesser extent than claimed by the UNJHRO and Reuters. According to our information, none of them were “executed”, let alone with machetes.
African Facts confronted Willy Ngoma, the M23’s military spokesperson, with this information. “We can’t even slaughter a chicken or a goat belonging to a Congolese person. We are an army of the people, working for the people. In our country, the life of every citizen is sacred. We shed our blood to save and protect this population. If a single citizen is harmed, all those responsible for protecting them must answer for it before the hierarchy”, he assures.
Moreover, the FDLR and the Nyatura engage in reprisals against the population accused of aiding their adversaries. As evidenced by testimonies, photos and videos authenticated by African Facts, around twenty houses were burned in Kizimba on 10 July during one such punitive operation. Several civilians have been summarily executed by these same actors in recent months, some of them beheaded. However, these incidents have not been mentioned by United Nations officials or major international news agencies.