UN accuses M23 rebels in DR Congo of killing scores of civilians

The United Nations says M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least 169 farmers and other civilians earlier this month.

In a report that its human rights office shared with news agency, Reuters,  it said the attack took place on 9 July in the Rutshuru territory of North Kivu province.

The UN said the M23 targeted suspected members of another rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda.

The FDLR includes remnants of a Hutu paramilitary force responsible for the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda.

But M23 leader, Bertrand Bisimwa, said the UN report may be a “smear campaign” and that the "unconfirmed accusations" would be investigated.

Reuters was not able to independently confirm the attack, but an activist in Rutshuru told the agency that witnesses had seen M23 fighters kill scores of civilians, mostly Congolese Hutu farmers.

The attack would be one of the deadliest since the Rwanda-backed group’s resurgence.

It endangers President Donald Trump’s push for peace in the DRC and his hopes for a deal which would see the United States access the country’s rich mineral reserves.

Trump is expected to host leaders of the DR Congo and Rwanda - Félix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame - in the coming weeks to seal a peace agreement.

A deal between the two sides, signed in Washington in June, requires Kinshasa to "neutralise" the FDLR as Rwanda withdraws from Congolese territory.

Both the Congolese operations against the FDLR and the Rwandan withdrawal were supposed to have started on Sunday, but it is unclear what progress has been made.

They have three months to conclude.

The M23 and Congolese government have pledged to work towards peace by 18 August.