Rebels in eastern Congo abducted 130 hospital patients, UN says

Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have abducted at least 130 sick and wounded people from two hospitals in a major city in eastern DRC, the United Nations said Monday.

On February 28, M23 fighters attacked the CBCA Ndosho hospital and the Heal Africa hospital in Goma, a strategic city they seized earlier this year, Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office, said in a statement.

The rebels took away 116 patients from CBCA and 15 others from Heal Africa whom they suspected of being Congolese army soldiers or members of the pro-government Wazalendo militia.

“It is deeply distressing that M23 is taking patients from their hospital beds in coordinated raids and holding them incommunicado in undisclosed locations,” said Mr Shamdasani, who called for their immediate release.

M23 rebels have swept across eastern DRC since the start of the year, seizing key towns and killing some 3,000 people in the most significant escalation of the conflict in more than a decade.

In a lightning three-week offensive, the M23 took control of Goma, the main city in eastern DRC, and seized Bukavu, the country’s second city. The region is rich in gold and coltan, a mineral essential for the production of capacitors used in most consumer electronics, such as laptops and smartphones.

The rebels are backed by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, and have at times vowed to march to the DRC capital, Kinshasa, more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away.

Rwanda has accused the DRC of recruiting ethnic Hutu fighters responsible for Rwanda's 1994 genocide of minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

The M23 claims it is fighting to protect Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination and wants to transform the DRC from a failed state to a modern one. Analysts have dismissed these pretexts as Rwandan involvement.

Last week, at least 11 people were killed and dozens injured when explosions in Bukavu hit a rally organized by leaders of the M23 rebel group.