Dr Congo: calls for end to support for armed group linked to war crimes
An armed group operating with the backing of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) has been implicated in the killings and torture of civilians, extensive looting, and the abduction of women, forcing them into sexual slavery within the Rutshuru territory of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). These grave allegations were brought to light by Amnesty International on June 25.
The Collective of Movements for Change-People’s Defense Forces (CMC-FDP) operates as part of the Wazalendo (meaning “patriots” in Swahili), a loosely organized coalition of armed factions that the Congolese army utilizes as auxiliary forces in its ongoing conflict against the M23 Movement, which is supported by Rwanda. The CMC-FDP primarily conducts its operations in the Bukombo grouping of Rutshuru, an area currently under M23 control.
Civilians residing in or around Bukombo find themselves trapped between the brutality of the M23 and the CMC-FDP. Their daily ordeal is horrific, particularly in isolated regions where the CMC-FDP acts with complete impunity.
Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa
The group maintains secluded bases within Bukombo, frequently targeting civilians, often under the cover of night or in areas where M23 fighters have a reduced presence. Following confrontations with the M23, CMC-FDP combatants have exacted revenge on individuals perceived to have family ties to M23 members. Such egregious human rights abuses against civilians flagrantly violate international humanitarian law and could constitute war crimes.
“Civilians residing in or around Bukombo find themselves trapped between the brutality of the M23 and the CMC-FDP. Their daily ordeal is horrific, particularly in isolated regions where the CMC-FDP acts with complete impunity,” stated Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, highlighting the dire humanitarian situation in the DR Congo.
“While DR Congo authorities rightly condemn M23 violence, they often disregard similar violence and human rights abuses perpetrated by the Wazalendo, including the CMC-FDP. In effect, they condone these crimes, shirking their responsibility to protect civilians and bring Wazalendo fighters to justice. The international community must exert pressure on the DR Congo government to immediately cease its support for these armed groups, which is crucial for improved governance in Africa.”
Between March and April 2026, Amnesty International conducted remote interviews, utilizing secure phone applications, with 16 victims and survivors of sexual violence and 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 reached Amnesty International, detailing similar violence attributed to this group in the region, including summary executions and the burning of homes.
The international community must exert pressure on the government of the DR Congo to immediately cease its support for these armed groups.
Tigere Chagutah
On June 8, 2026, Amnesty International formally communicated its findings to the CMC-FDP, requesting information regarding the conduct of the group’s commanders and combatants towards civilians in areas under their control. The CMC-FDP spokesperson, Héritier Donald Gashegu, responded in writing on June 16, 2026. In this correspondence, the CMC-FDP denied any responsibility for the documented human rights abuses, asserting its unwavering commitment to human rights and the discipline of its fighters.
Rape and other sexual violence against women
A woman in her early twenties recounted to Amnesty International that after her husband joined the M23 in May 2025, CMC-FDP fighters 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 testified that CMC-FDP combatants detained her in a house within their camp and presented her to a commander who was to become her “husband.” Each day, the fighters provided her with a cup of taro and corn to eat. She observed two other women held in the camp but was threatened with being shot if she spoke to them. The woman specified that the commander repeatedly raped her. “I thought he would kill me if I refused. He came every night [for sexual relations].” She managed to escape when the M23 attacked the CMC-FDP camp.
Amnesty International also interviewed a 22-year-old woman who reported that CMC-FDP fighters abducted her in June 2025, after her husband joined the M23. They took her to their Mudugudu base in Bukombo, where she was forced into becoming a commander’s “wife.” “He said: ‘If you don’t sleep with me, I will kill you.’” She stated that four other women were also in the camp, similarly forced to be “wives” to fighters.
She added that she witnessed civilians being detained and mistreated at the camp. “They would take people and bring them to the base. If you had nothing of value, they would beat you. If you were lucky, they would leave you alone. They put people in [underground detention cells]. They detained people to extort money.” These actions resemble the war crime of hostage-taking.
This woman escaped in October 2025, after the M23 attacked the camp.
Both victims of sexual violence interviewed by Amnesty International were held under conditions akin 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, a grave concern for society in Africa.
Sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence committed in the context of armed conflict constitute severe violations of international humanitarian law, amounting to war crimes. They also infringe upon multiple 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 declared that it “categorically rejects” allegations of its fighters raping, sexually enslaving, or forcing women to “marry” its commanders. “No complaint, official report, or referral has been brought to the attention of our internal disciplinary or judicial bodies concerning the facts mentioned,” they claimed.
The leaders of the CMC-FDP should have been aware of the violence perpetrated by their commanders. They could be considered complicit if they knew such violence was occurring and failed to act to prevent or stop it.
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 plantation in Mashango, a village in Bukombo, during an exchange of fire 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 in our home and burned our houses. One [of the fighters] took pity on me. He said: ‘This woman is pregnant and will soon give birth, we must spare her.’”
She identified them as CMC-FDP fighters because the group maintained a base in Mashango, within the Bukombo grouping, a region it controlled.
The fighters took her husband and killed him. “They cut him up with a machete. Everyone was killed with a machete. I then went in search of the bodies… when we found the bodies, they were already decomposing.” This woman gave birth to a baby boy, alone in the forest, at 5:30 p.m. that same day.
Another female victim informed Amnesty International that her husband had joined the M23 in June 2025, and CMC-FDP fighters arrived at her home the following month. “Four of them [arrived] at noon,” she stated. “Two had pistols, the other two had whips. I asked them to have pity 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 me and injured me with a knife. The next day, I suffered a miscarriage.”
The CMC-FDP denied the allegation that they had looted and burned homes.
Revenge killings and summary executions
Nine victims and survivors told Amnesty International that CMC-FDP combatants had killed their husbands or abducted them because their sons or husbands had joined the M23.
A 35-year-old woman recounted that a CMC-FDP commander and six fighters came to her home in Kyahemba, a village in the Bukombo grouping, 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 before the eyes of their eight and six-year-old children. She was later informed that her son had died while part of 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 provided by a human rights defender, a CMC-FDP commander based in Kyahemba was involved in the detention or killing of their relatives.
Another woman, Elisabeth*, reported that six CMC-FDP fighters, 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 to Amnesty International, the CMC-FDP did not specify the measures it had taken to investigate allegations that its fighters had killed civilians. It claimed to lack sufficient information to conduct investigations, a common challenge in African politics.
Extortion and threats
Before the M23’s arrival in the region, the CMC-FDP extorted money from residents, a form of tax known as lala salama (“sleep peacefully” in Swahili). These “taxes” were purportedly intended to fund 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 fighters had 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 sure my son joined 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 in July or August of last year, without warning. In September, CMC-FDP fighters came to her home. “I look like a Tutsi. [The CMC-FDP fighters] 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 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 fighters helped her escape. “I was carrying a child, and the fighter 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, stating: “[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 a policy nor a 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 identifying the perpetrators so that appropriate measures can be taken in accordance with disciplinary rules and the requirements of justice.”
The leaders of the CMC-FDP should have known that extortion and ransom practices were occurring and had a responsibility to investigate them and hold involved fighters accountable. If they knew these actions were taking place and did not take necessary steps to stop them, they could be considered complicit, impacting governance in Africa.
Congolese army support for the CMC-FDP
In May 2023, the DR Congo enacted a law establishing the Armed Defense Reserve, which provided for the integration of certain local armed groups, including the CMC-FDP, into the Congolese army, thereby forming an auxiliary force to combat the M23.
The FARDC provides financial and material assistance to these armed groups, supplying them with weapons and ammunition. In December 2025, the DR Congo’s Minister of Finance informed the National Assembly’s Defense and Security Committee 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 fighters despite the terrible human rights abuses they inflict on civilians.
Tigere Chagutah
In July 2024, the European Union sanctioned the commander-in-chief of the CMC-FDP, Dominique “Domi” Kamanzi Ndaruhutse, for having “committed acts that constitute grave human rights violations and abuses.” This individual has fought with various nyatura (“strike hard” in Kinyarwanda) groups for over 10 years and has, according to the United Nations Group of Experts on the DR Congo, collaborated with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), particularly in the Bwito grouping (Rutshuru territory). The FDLR is an armed opposition group operating in eastern DR Congo, 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 fighters who did not participate in the genocide.
“It is unacceptable that the Congolese army continues to support CMC-FDP fighters despite the terrible human rights abuses they inflict on civilians,” Tigere Chagutah asserted. “The group has engaged in rampant violence for years. DR Congo authorities must immediately end their collaboration with the CMC-FDP and other abusive Wazalendo groups, cease their support, and hold them accountable for these violations of DR Congo human rights.”
* Pseudonyms are used to protect the identity of interviewees for security and confidentiality reasons.
