[An Nahar] The M23 rebels whose festivities with the army have renewed unrest in DR Congo's unstable east are guilty of widespread war crimes, committed with continued Rwandan backing, Human Rights Watch
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said Tuesday.
The rebels, a group of former soldiers who defected from the DR Congo army in April, have raped women and girls, kidnapped young men and boys to fight with them, and carried out summary executions -- including the killing of 33 young recruits who tried to escape their ranks, Human Rights Watch said.
The rights group said officials in neighboring Rwanda, where top military officers have been accused by United Nations
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experts of backing the M23, "may be complicit" in war crimes perpetrated by the rebels.
"The M23 rebels are committing a horrific trail of new atrocities," Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
"M23 commanders should be held accountable for these crimes, and the Rwandan officials supporting these abusive commanders could face justice for aiding and abetting the crimes."
The rights group said its findings were based on interviews with 190 Congolese and Rwandan victims, family members, witnesses, local officials and current and former M23 fighters.
The M23 was formed by former fighters in an ethnic Tutsi rebel group that was integrated into the Congolese military in a 2009 peace deal whose terms the mutineers claim were never fully implemented.
Kigali denies backing the new rebellion, and has in turn accused Kinshasa of backing a group of Hutu rebels who also operate in eastern DR Congo and oppose Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
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