Conflict-affected DR Congo civilians desperately looking for safety amidst the intense fighting between the army and the armed groups. |Credit: NRC|.
Inaccurate explosive weapons with wide area effects were used in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s densely populated areas more than 150 times in seven months, killing over 100 people.
Amid a fresh uptick in fighting, Amnesty International called on the warring parties to immediately cease attacks on civilians and stop using explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas.
Amnesty International appealed to the ICC (International Criminal Court) to consider investigating these attacks as war crimes.
On 25 January 2024, an artillery round most likely fired by the FARDC struck a house in the Bukama neighborhood of Mweso, a town about 100km north-west of North Kivu’s capital Goma, killing at least 19 people and injuring at least 25 others, including 15 children, according to medical sources.
Amnesty found no evidence of military targets at or near the impact area, and medical sources confirmed there were no fighters among the casualties.
Four witnesses told Amnesty the firing came from Katsiru district to Mweso’s east, which was under FARDC control at the time. Two witnesses in Katsiru described seeing Congolese troops firing a rocket launcher mounted on an army pick-up toward Mweso on 25 January. In addition, four security and humanitarian sources told Amnesty that during briefings in Goma, military officials acknowledged “a blunder” and pledged that the unit’s commander would be held accountable.
On 4 March 2024, a munition hit a column of civilians fleeing on foot from an M23 assault on Nyanzale town, killing at least 17 civilians and injuring a dozen more, according to eyewitnesses and medical sources. All victims were civilians running away, including children. Some of them had previously fled to Nyanzale to escape fighting elsewhere.
Three witnesses and a local UN monitor told Amnesty the munitions were launched from a hill called Kihondo, west of Nyanzale, an area controlled at the time by the M23.
In another incident, on 3 May 2024, several rockets landed near Goma, most likely fired by M23 in response to rocket fire from the Congolese army, which had taken up positions close to internally displaced persons (IDP) camps by the town. One of the rockets hit a camp called 8ème CEPAC, north-west of Goma, killing at least 18 civilians, including 15 children, six under five years old, according to medical sources. Of the 30 wounded civilians, 28 were women and children.
Amnesty interviewed numerous survivors and verified 27 photos and three videos taken after the attack, which showed the munition to be an unguided 122mm Grad rocket. The M23 owns numerous Grad-P launchers, which can fire 122m Grad rockets, and the distance from the M23’s position at the time and the impact was within that weapon’s range.
Congolese authorities and M23 leaders did not respond to Amnesty’s preliminary findings shared in December 2024.
“Amnesty International examined attacks between January and July 2024 before the ceasefire, but we know that these types of bombings have not stopped,” said Agnès Callamard. “Civilians, including IDPs crammed in makeshift camps across the region, remain at serious risk of death or injury from rockets and other explosive weapons used by the warring parties.”
‘What have we done to deserve this?’
Survivors and relatives of victims of these indiscriminate attacks told heartbreaking stories of terror and loss.
John*, a 46-year-old father of seven whose eldest daughter was seriously injured in the 8ème CEPAC attack, said: “The explosion was deafening… Dozens of tents had been blown away. Bodies of the dead, many of them children, were torn into pieces, as wounded people were desperately calling for help. It was apocalyptic.”
Angèle, who lost her four daughters in the same attack, said the explosion reduced her children to just “ruins and torn bodies.” She recounted their names to Amnesty, showing their favourite dresses one by one: “15-year-old Gisèle, 12-year-old Furaha, 10-year-old Lumoo, and 6-year-old Ndoole. All killed in seconds.”
One man, whose wife was killed in a rocket attack, expressed dismay about the two sides fighting so close to IDP camps. “We fled our villages hoping to find some safety,” he said. “Here we have nothing except our children. But they are chasing us here and killing our children. The M23 is killing us, the government is killing us, what have we done to deserve this?”
Besides the death toll, last year’s uptick in the use of explosive weapons resulted in a sharp increase in wounded civilians too.
A doctor at a Goma-based trauma hospital told Amnesty that their facility treated more people for explosives-related injuries between February and May 2024 than for the entirety of 2023, with 37% of total injuries from explosive weapons.
In early March, the International Committee of the Red Cross similarly reported 40% of wounded civilians in North Kivu were victims of shelling or other heavy weapons used in densely populated areas.
Survivors suffer deep mental trauma. Twelve-year-old Christine, wounded in the face, chest, and leg, told Amnesty she fears leaving her mother to play with other children because “I think a bomb is going to strike again and hurt me.”
Explosive attacks also damaged countless civilian objects including critical health facilities, disrupting economic activity and delivery of life-saving humanitarian aid.
Ensuring justice
All the survivors of explosive attacks who spoke to Amnesty demanded authorities quickly and sustainably restore security so people can return to their homes and live without fear.
They also expressed the desire for truth and justice. However, investigations into the deadly bombings that were promised by the authorities appear to have stalled, leaving victims in the lurch and allowing attacks to continue.
