The Congolese authorities and a civil society group said they found two mass grave sites in parts of Uvira in eastern Congo where the M23 rebel group has recently withdrawn, as fighting in the region escalates despite a U.S.-mediated peace deal, according to an Associated Press report.
South-Kivu Governor Jean-Jacques Purusi said authorities found the graves in the Kiromoni and Kavimvira neighborhoods on the outskirts of Uvira. Purusi told The Associated Press by phone that authorities had identified “two sites” at the time of reporting: a Kiromoni mass grave and a Kavimvira mass grave.
Purusi said the Kiromoni site, not far from the Burundian border on the Congolese side, contained approximately 30 bodies. He said the second grave in Kavimvira held 141 bodies, for a total of at least 171 dead.
The AP report said it could not independently verify the claim, and that an M23 spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Separately, the Executive Secretariat of the Local Network for the Protection of Civilians said it wanted to visit the graves but was prevented from doing so by the Congolese military.
Yves Ramadhani, the vice president of the civil society group, said information gathered so far indicates that the victims were killed by M23 rebels. The governor and the civil society group alleged the rebels killed individuals because they suspected them of belonging to the Congolese army or a pro-government militia.
The report said both the Congolese military and M23 have been accused by rights groups of extrajudicial killings and abuses. M23 had taken control of Uvira in December after a rapid offensive, and regional authorities said more than 1,500 people were killed and about 300,000 displaced.
M23 later announced it would withdraw from the city, describing the move as a “unilateral trust-building measure” requested by the U.S. to facilitate the peace process. The AP report said Congo, the U.S. and U.N. experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23, and cited U.N. figures that M23 grew from hundreds of members in 2021 to around 6,500 fighters.
The fighting also involves more than 100 armed groups seeking influence in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the Rwanda border, the report said. It added that the conflict has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises, with more than 7 million people displaced according to the U.N. agency for refugees, while negotiations between rebels and Congo and talks between Congo and Rwanda continue.