An armed group, allegedly receiving backing from the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC), has subjected civilians to killings, torture, property looting, and the abduction of women for sexual enslavement in the Rutshuru territory, located in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). These grave allegations were brought to light on June 25.
The Collectif des mouvements pour le changement-Forces de défense du peuple (CMC-FDP) operates as part of the Wazalendo, a loosely organized coalition of armed factions. The Congolese army reportedly utilizes these groups as auxiliary forces in its ongoing conflict against the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23), which is supported by Rwanda. The CMC-FDP primarily conducts its operations within the Bukombo groupement in Rutshuru, an area currently under M23 control.
Civilians residing in and around Bukombo find themselves caught in a brutal crossfire between the M23 and the CMC-FDP. The daily atrocities they endure are horrific, especially in remote areas where the CMC-FDP operates with complete impunity.
Tigere Chagutah, regional director for East and Southern Africa
The CMC-FDP maintains isolated bases within Bukombo, frequently targeting civilians, often under the cover of night or in locations where M23 fighters are less prevalent. Following clashes with the M23, CMC-FDP combatants have reportedly retaliated against individuals perceived to have familial ties to M23 members. Such human rights violations against civilians flagrantly disregard international humanitarian law and could constitute war crimes.
“Civilians residing in and around Bukombo find themselves caught in a brutal crossfire between the M23 and the CMC-FDP. The daily atrocities they endure are horrific, especially in remote areas where the CMC-FDP operates with complete impunity,” stated Tigere Chagutah, regional director for East and Southern Africa.
“While DRC authorities rightly condemn the violence perpetrated by the M23, they often overlook similar violence and human rights abuses committed by the Wazalendo, including the CMC-FDP. In effect, this condones these crimes and absolves them of their duty to protect civilians and bring Wazalendo combatants to justice. The international community must exert pressure on the DRC government to immediately cease its support for these armed groups.”
Between March and April 2026, remote interviews were conducted via secure phone applications with 16 victims and survivors of rape and sexual assault, as well as family members of civilians killed, raped, tortured, abducted, or subjected to ill-treatment by CMC-FDP combatants between June and December 2025. Credible information from human rights defenders also detailed similar violence attributed to the group in the region, including summary executions and the burning of homes.
The international community must exert pressure on the government of the DRC to immediately cease its support for these armed groups.
Tigere Chagutah
On June 8, 2026, a letter was sent to the CMC-FDP outlining these findings and requesting information regarding the conduct of its commanders and combatants towards civilians in areas under their control. The CMC-FDP spokesperson, Héritier Donald Gashegu, responded in writing on June 16, 2026, denying any responsibility for the documented human rights abuses and asserting the group’s commitment to respecting human rights and maintaining discipline among its fighters.
Rape and other sexual violence against women
One woman, in her early twenties, recounted her ordeal, explaining that after her husband joined the M23 in May 2025, CMC-FDP combatants abducted her from her home and held her captive for three months. “They gave me a choice: either I went with them, or they would kill me,” she stated.
She described being detained in a house within their camp, where she was introduced to a commander who was designated to become her “husband.” Daily, combatants provided her with a meager meal of taro and corn. She also observed two other women held in the camp but was threatened with being shot if she attempted to speak to them. The commander, she reported, raped her repeatedly. “I thought he would kill me if I refused. He came every night [for sexual relations].” This woman managed to escape when the M23 attacked the CMC-FDP camp.
Another woman, 22, shared a similar account, stating that CMC-FDP combatants abducted her in June 2025 after her husband joined the M23. She was taken to their Mudugudu base in Bukombo and forced to become a commander’s “wife.” “He said: ‘If you don’t sleep with me, I will kill you.’” She noted the presence of four other women in the camp, also compelled to be “wives” to fighters.
She further disclosed witnessing civilians detained and mistreated at the camp. “They took people and brought them to the base. If you had nothing of value, they beat you. If you were lucky, they left you alone. They put people in [underground detention cells]. They detained people to extort money.” These actions bear the hallmarks of the war crime of hostage-taking.
This woman escaped in October 2025 after the M23 attacked the camp.
Both victims of sexual violence interviewed were held under conditions amounting to sexual slavery. They reported contracting sexually transmitted infections as a result of the rapes, causing them pain and suffering. While these two women received treatment at health centers, many victims of sexual violence perpetrated by Wazalendo armed groups lack access to adequate medical or psychological care.
Sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence committed during armed conflict constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law, akin to war crimes. They also infringe upon numerous human rights, including the right to equality and non-discrimination, the right to physical integrity, and the right not to be subjected to torture or other forms of ill-treatment.
The CMC-FDP has categorically rejected allegations of its combatants raping, sexually enslaving, or forcing women into “marriage” with commanders. They stated that “no complaint, official report, or referral has been brought to the attention of our internal disciplinary or judicial bodies concerning the facts mentioned.”
CMC-FDP leaders should have been aware of the violence perpetrated by their commanders. They could be considered complicit if they knew these acts were occurring and failed to prevent or stop them.
Ill-treatment and other violence against women
On November 20, 2025, eight individuals, including a pregnant woman and her husband, sought refuge in a banana grove in Mashango, a Bukombo village, during a firefight between the M23 and local armed groups, likely including the CMC-FDP.
Armed combatants discovered them and demanded cooking oil. “We told them we had no oil left. They [then] looted everything from our home and burned our houses. One [of the combatants] took pity on me. He said: ‘This woman is pregnant and will soon give birth, we must spare her.’”
The woman identified them as CMC-FDP combatants because the group maintained a base in Mashango, within the Bukombo groupement, a region they controlled.
The combatants took her husband and killed him. “They cut him with a machete. Everyone was killed with a machete. I [then] went searching for the bodies… when we found them, they were already decomposing.” This woman gave birth to a baby boy, alone in the forest, at 5:30 PM that day.
Another female victim informed that her husband joined the M23 in June 2025, and CMC-FDP combatants arrived at her home the following month. “Four of them [arrived] at noon,” she indicated. “Two had pistols, the other two had whips. I asked them to have mercy on me because I was pregnant. They replied: ‘Your pregnancy is not our problem; we want to see your husband.’ They beat me severely. They hit and wounded me with a knife. The next day, I had a miscarriage.”
The CMC-FDP denied the allegation of looting and burning homes.
Revenge killings and summary executions
Nine victims and survivors reported that CMC-FDP combatants killed their husbands or abducted them because their sons or husbands had joined the M23.
A 35-year-old woman recounted how a CMC-FDP commander and six combatants came to her home in Kyahemba, a village in the Bukombo groupement, in November 2025. She explained that the commander entered the house and asked her: “Did you let [the M23] recruit your child?” The woman stated that her 15-year-old son had left without warning earlier that month to join the M23. “I replied that I didn’t know how he had been recruited. At that moment, he started shooting my husband.” She specified that her husband was shot three times in the chest in front of their eight and six-year-old children. She was later informed that her son had died while with the M23.
They shot him [my husband] three times in the chest and in the genitals. After shooting him, they looted the house. They left with four goats, clothes, and cooking pots.
Elisabeth*
According to four victims and information from a human rights defender, a CMC-FDP commander based in Kyahemba was involved in the detention or killing of their relatives.
Another woman, Elisabeth*, stated that six CMC-FDP combatants, four of whom were former neighbors, came to her home in November 2025, searching for her husband. “They told us to leave the house. They said: ‘You are collaborating with the [M23]…’ They acted as if [my husband] was in league with the M23. They shot him three times in the chest and in the genitals. After shooting him, they looted the house. They left with four goats, clothes, and cooking pots.”
In its response, the CMC-FDP did not specify measures taken to investigate allegations of its combatants killing civilians. It claimed insufficient information to conduct investigations.
Extortion and threats
Before the M23’s arrival in the region, the CMC-FDP levied money from residents, a form of taxation known as lala salama (“sleep peacefully” in Swahili). These “taxes” were purportedly for civilian protection. One victim stated that her husband joined the M23 because he was fed up with these extortions.
Innocent*, who worked in Kyahemba, reported that CMC-FDP combatants approached him three times since his son joined the M23 in August 2025, demanding money on this pretext. He gave them 300 US dollars. “Each time, they told me to make my son join their group. I said it wasn’t me who took him there. How was I going to find him? Each time they came, they beat me. They burned three houses, mine and two others. They said they would kill me if I didn’t give them money.”
Justine*, a 20-year-old woman, stated that her husband fled without warning in July or August of last year. In September, CMC-FDP combatants came to her home. “I look like a Tutsi. [The CMC-FDP combatants] forced the door, entered, and whipped me once on the back and once on the chest. They tied my hands. They told me: ‘Tell us where your husband is.’” When she replied that she did not know, they explained they would take her to one of the CMC-FDP’s military commanders, implying he would force her to reveal her husband’s whereabouts.
Each time they came, they beat me. They burned three houses, mine and two others. They said they would kill me if I didn’t give them money.
Innocent*
On the way, one of the combatants helped her escape. “I was carrying a child, and the combatant took pity on the baby. He said: ‘If you go this way, they will kill you.’”
Justine believed fear drove her husband to join the M23. She explained that in July or August, the M23 had threatened her husband, saying: “[You] are a Tutsi from Rwanda, and all Tutsis who do not join the M23 will be beheaded.”
The CMC-FDP wrote that it had “neither policy nor practice of demanding ransoms or payments from relatives of those who have joined the M23 or any other enemy movement. If isolated cases of behavior contrary to our principles existed, we would be the first interested in knowing the perpetrators so that appropriate measures can be taken in accordance with disciplinary rules and the requirements of justice.”
CMC-FDP leaders should have been aware of extortion and ransom practices and had a responsibility to investigate them and hold involved combatants accountable. If they knew these actions were occurring and failed to take necessary steps to stop them, they could be considered complicit.
Congolese army support for the CMC-FDP
In May 2023, the DRC enacted a law establishing the Armed Reserve for Defense, which provided for the integration of certain local armed groups, including the CMC-FDP, into the Congolese army, thus forming an auxiliary force to combat the M23.
The FARDC reportedly provides financial aid, weapons, and ammunition to these armed groups. In December 2025, the DRC’s Minister of Finance informed the National Assembly’s Defense and Security Commission that the state was paying Wazalendo groups 4 million US dollars per month.
According to an internal document from the North Kivu military government, obtained by Ebuteli, a Congolese research group, the CMC-FDP received over 100,000 rounds of ammunition and more than 100 40-millimeter rockets from the FARDC in late 2023 and early 2024.
It is unacceptable that the Congolese army continues to support CMC-FDP combatants despite the terrible human rights abuses they inflict on civilians.
Tigere Chagutah
In July 2024, the European Union sanctioned the CMC-FDP’s commander-in-chief, Dominique “Domi” Kamanzi Ndaruhutse, for “committing acts that constitute serious human rights violations and abuses.” This individual has fought with various nyatura (“strike hard” in Kinyarwanda) groups for over a decade and, according to the United Nations Group of Experts on the DRC, has collaborated with the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR), particularly in the Bwito groupement (Rutshuru territory). The FDLR is an armed opposition group operating in eastern DRC, composed of Rwandan and Congolese fighters. Its ranks include former members of the Interahamwe and former Rwandan soldiers responsible for the 1994 genocide, as well as combatants who did not participate in the genocide.
“It is unacceptable that the Congolese army continues to support CMC-FDP combatants despite the terrible human rights abuses they inflict on civilians,” Tigere Chagutah asserted. “The group has engaged in rampant violence for years. Congolese authorities must immediately end collaboration with and support for the CMC-FDP and other abusive Wazalendo groups, and hold them accountable.”
* Pseudonyms are used to protect the identity of interviewees for security and confidentiality reasons.
