The abductions come as the Rwanda-backed group continues its rapid military expansion in eastern DR Congo, seizing key cities and escalating one of the most intense conflicts in over a decade.
ADVERTISEMENT
The M23 rebels forcibly removed at least 130 sick and wounded men from two hospitals in eastern DR Congo, the UN reported on Monday.
On 28 February, the Rwanda-backed group stormed CBCA Ndosho Hospital and Heal Africa Hospital in Goma, a strategic city they had captured earlier this year, according to UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.
The insurgents took 116 patients from CBCA and 15 others from Heal Africa, accusing them of being Congolese army soldiers or members of the pro-government Wazalendo militia.
“It is deeply distressing that M23 is snatching patients from hospital beds in coordinated raids and holding them incommunicado in undisclosed locations,” Shamdasani stated, urging their immediate release.
Since the start of the year, M23 rebels have rapidly advanced through eastern DR Congo, or DRC, capturing crucial cities and claiming the lives of approximately 3,000 people in what has been described as the most significant escalation of conflict in over a decade.
In a three-week campaign, the M23 seized control of Goma, eastern DRC's largest city, and went on to capture Bukavu, the second largest.
The region is abundant in gold and coltan, a crucial mineral used in capacitors for consumer electronics, including laptops and smartphones.
According to UN experts, the rebels are supported by an estimated 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda. They have also threatened to advance as far as DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, more than 1,600 kilometres away.
In turn, Kigali has accused Kinshasa of recruiting ethnic Hutu combatants responsible for the 1994 genocide against minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda.
The M23 asserts that it is fighting to protect Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination and seeks to turn the DRC from a fragile state into a stable one. However, analysts have dismissed these justifications as a pretext for Rwanda’s involvement.
Last week, at least 11 people were killed and many others injured when explosions hit a rally organised by M23 leaders in Bukavu.