GENEVA: The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has summarily executed children in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
The UN rights office warned the situation in eastern DRC was “deteriorating sharply, resulting in serious human rights violations and abuses.”
“Our office has confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week,” rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
“We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons,” she said.
She urged “Rwanda and M23 to ensure that human rights and international humanitarian law are respected.”
M23 fighters and Rwandan soldiers have seized Goma and Bukavu, the capitals of North and South Kivu provinces respectively.
In South Kivu, more than 150,000 people have been forced to flee, UN refugee agency UNHCR said.
UN experts say Rwanda effectively controls M23 and has at least 4,000 troops fighting alongside it.
The DRC government accuses Rwanda of “expansionist ambitions” and says it is stealing vast amounts of minerals.
Shamdasani said the situation was “very chaotic,” and the UN rights office was “receiving a lot of information... which we are not able to confirm or verify.”
It had, however, confirmed a case of three boys, thought to be aged between 11 and 15, who had been killed in Bukavu on Sunday “during an altercation with members of M23.”
The boys were allegedly wearing uniforms and carrying weapons found in an abandoned DRC army camp, firing shots and looting stores, she said.
“What appears to have happened is that they were asked to surrender their weapons and they refused to do so and they were killed,” she said.
The rights office had also documented cases of “ill treatment, conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence, child and forced recruitment, intimidation and death threats,” she said.
Prison breaks from South Kivu’s Kabare and Bukavu jails on Friday had made matters worse.
“We have received protection requests from victims and witnesses (who) fear retaliation from escapees, given their active participation in the trials against some of these prisoners convicted of grave human rights violations and abuses, some of which amount to international crimes,” she said.
She said the UN had received “reports that journalists, human rights defenders and members of civil society organizations have been threatened, and forced to leave.”
UN rights chief Volker Turk “expresses his horror at the events unfolding in South and North Kivu, and the impact this is having on civilians,” she said.
“The risks of this spilling over into an even deeper and wider conflict are frighteningly real.”
The fighting has already spurred an exodus toward neighboring Burundi, UNHCR warned.
“Between 10,000 and 15,000 people have crossed into Burundi over the last few days,” spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh told reporters.
“Most of those arriving are Congolese, mainly from the Bukavu area,” he said.
He highlighted reports of thousands more people arriving through “unofficial border points,” including across rivers, “with reports of several individuals drowning.”
“Conditions in the communities near the border are extremely dire, with a lack of shelter, water and sanitation facilities,” he said.

VATICAN CITY: The Vatican on Tuesday canceled two of Pope Francis’s events at the weekend as the 88-year-old continues to receive hospital treatment for bronchitis.
The Holy See had already on Monday indicated that the pontiff, who was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Friday, would stay longer than initially believed due to a “complex” clinical picture.
“Due to the health conditions of the Holy Father, the Jubilee audience of Saturday February 22 is canceled,” it said in a statement Tuesday.
It added that the pontiff has delegated a senior Vatican clergyman to celebrate a planned mass on Sunday morning.
The Vatican did not mention the Angelus prayer, which the pope normally delivers at midday on Sunday, but which he missed last weekend.
Francis, the head of the worldwide Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted to hospital after struggling for several days to read his texts in public.
It is latest of a series of health issues for the Argentine Jesuit, who has undergone hernia and colon surgery since 2021, and uses a wheelchair for a sore knee.
In a statement on Monday, the Vatican said tests had confirmed “a polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract that has led to a further change in treatment.”
“All the tests carried out until now are indicative of a complex clinical picture that will require adequate hospitalization,” it said.
In an update later on Monday evening, it said his condition was unchanged.
“The Holy Father remains without a fever and is proceeding with the prescribed treatment,” it added.
He had on Monday morning “received the Eucharist and subsequently dedicated himself to some work and reading texts,” it said.
“Pope Francis is touched by the numerous messages of affection and closeness he continues to receive,” it added.