The Rwandan army is deporting the Congolese population in Sud-Kivu
Agence Congolaise de Presse (ACP)
November 1, 2026
Kinshasa, November 1st, 2026 (CPA). – The provincial government of Sud-Kivu, a province in the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has condemned, in an official statement received on Sunday by CPA, the deportation of the civilian population from the town of Katogota by the Rwandan army, in collusion with its M23-AFC militias. “The Provincial Government of Sud-Kivu strongly condemns the deportation of the civilian population of Katogota, which begun on the evening of Friday, October 30th, 2026, by elements of the ‘renewed’ M23, an auxiliary force of the Rwandan army. It brings these acts to the attention of the national and international community as yet another war crime in the war that Rwanda is waging against the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” it is read. “The Provincial Government notices that the inhabitants of Katogota, a village in the Itara-Luvungi group in Uvira territory, are being forcibly compelled to abandon their homes, their land and their possessions. These families are joining the many civilians whom the war has already driven away from the Ruzizi plain. It extends the solidarity of the entire province to them,” the source has added. The village of Katogota, the statement has reminded, is still mourning the massacre of May 14th, 2000. “Rwandan troops and their auxiliaries had killed hundreds of civilians there at the time, and every year the families honour the memory of three hundred and seventy-five (375) victims. Twenty-six years later, on the same land, the name of the auxiliaries has changed but the violence continues. The provincial government also notes that these acts are a continuation of a documented practice,” the document has indicated. The Sud-Kivu provincial executive has also referred, in its statement, to a report submitted on December 30th, 2025 in which United Nations experts have described the expulsion of civilians from their lands by the AFC/M23 in the occupied areas of Nord-Kivu, followed by the refusal to grant them access to those lands.
The deportation of the population of Katogota: a crime against humanity
“As early as June 2025, Human Rights Watch had documented the forced transfer of civilians from Sake to Goma, from where many were deported to Rwanda, and noted that Kigali’s control over these territories made Rwanda an occupying power under international humanitarian law,” the statement has continued. Based on Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the forced transfer and deportation of the population of an occupied territory, whatever the reason, the provincial government of Sud-Kivu describes this act as a war crime. “The temporary evacuation permitted by this provision, under strict conditions, cannot serve as a pretext for the occupying power to pass off the uprooting of a people from their land as a protective measure,” the document has emphasised. It has also explained that the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court classifies such acts as war crimes and, where they form part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, as crimes against humanity. The Provincial Government holds Rwanda, the occupying power, and its auxiliaries responsible for this. The Provincial Government demands an immediate halt to these deportations and the free, safe and dignified return of the families of Katogota to their homes. In accordance with Security Council Resolution 2773, it demands the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Rwandan forces from the national territory, as well as the dismantling of the illegitimate parallel administrations established in the occupied areas. It finally calls on the United Nations and humanitarian organisations to provide assistance to displaced families without delay. The Provincial Government invites the investigative mechanisms established by the Human Rights Council and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to include the events in Katogota in their work, so that those responsible – both perpetrators and instigators – may be brought to justice.
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