SUMMARY
M23 killed civilians in the Nord Kivu province located in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) bordering Rwanda and Uganda. These attacks were driven by a combination of political conflict, ethnic divisions, and territorial control in a region marked by long-standing enmities.
Nord Kivu is known for its fertile land and high population density and has historically been home to various ethnic communities, including the Hunde, Nande, Nyanga, Tembo, Kano, Twa, Pere, Hutu, and Tutsi, with the latter two collectively referred to as Banyarwanda. Before colonization, these groups were governed through distinct chiefdoms, but Belgian colonial rule restructured traditional governance, sometimes installing new leaders. The Belgian administration also enforced ethnic divisions, classifying "autochthonous" (indigenous) communities as rightful landowners while denying land ownership to "foreigners", primarily Hutu and Tutsi migrants from Rwanda. Meanwhile, all land technically belonged to the colonial state, which could expropriate and allocate land to plantation owners.
During colonial rule, Belgian authorities encouraged labor migration from Rwanda, significantly shifting the region’s ethnic balance. Between 150,000 and 300,000 Hutu and Tutsi settlers arrived in Nord Kivu, deepening tensions between indigenous groups and newcomers. After independence, these demographic changes became a source of conflict, as indigenous communities retained customary land rights, while the Hutu and Tutsi gained numerical and economic influence. A cycle of citizenship laws granting and revoking rights for Hutu and Tutsi communities exacerbated ethnic divisions.
Under Mobutu’s Zairianization policy, large plantations were nationalized and redistributed through a patronage system. The Hutu and Tutsi elite acquired land and gained economic power, further fueling resentment among indigenous communities. M23, composed primarily of Tutsi soldiers, perceived civilians of other decent as potential enemies.
In 2012 M23 emerged as an actor in the DR Congo (Zaire): Government conflict. The group was formed by defectors from the Congolese army who argued that their goal was to revive the stalled 23 March 2009 peace agreement. M23 quickly gained control of Rutshuru territory and, in November 2012, captured Goma, forcing the government to negotiate. Talks began in Kampala, but in February 2013, M23 split into factions. A regional non-interference agreement led the UN to deploy a Force Intervention Brigade (FIB), which helped weaken M23. By November 2013, M23 capitulated and declared an end to its rebellion. While the Nairobi Declarations of December 2013 granted amnesty to rebels not guilty of war crimes, Kinshasa rejected a full amnesty. M23 disappeared for nearly a decade but resurfaced in the 2020s, once again with Rwandan support, capturing territory in eastern DR Congo. On 15 December 2023, M23 formed the AFC alliance, after which UCDP began attributing M23’s one-sided violence to this actor.
M23 killed civilians in their areas of control for multiple reasons. Many were attacked for resisting forced recruitment or refusing to contribute food rations to the group. Others were deliberately targeted based on their ethnic background. One of the communities that were particularly affected was Hutu civilians living in areas that had previously been under FDLR-FOCA control. Since FDLR-FOCA was perceived as a group of génocidaires, all civilians who had lived under its protection were considered legitimate targets. Additionally, those who had fled to government-controlled areas but later returned in search of food were executed, as they were viewed as government sympathizers.
M23 first became active as a one-sided actor in the UCDP data in 2013, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. M23 executed 26 farmers between 16 and 19 June 2013 in the localities of Busanza and Jomba in the Rutshuru territory, Nord Kivu province of DR Congo (Zaire).
