On June 25, a report documented how a militia backed by the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) has committed murders, torture, looting, and the abduction of women subjected to sexual slavery in the Rutshuru territory of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The Collectif des Mouvements pour le Changement-Forces de Défense du Peuple (CMC-FDP) is part of the Wazalendo (“patriots” in Swahili), a loosely structured coalition of armed groups that the Congolese army uses as auxiliary forces in its current fight against the Rwanda-backed March 23 Movement (M23). The CMC-FDP mainly operates in the Bukombo grouping (Rutshuru), currently under M23 control.
“Civilians living in or around Bukombo are trapped between M23 brutality and that of the CMC-FDP. What they are forced to endure daily is terrible, especially in isolated areas where the CMC-FDP acts with impunity.”
Tigere Chagutah, regional director for East and Southern Africa
The group maintains remote bases in Bukombo and targets civilians, often at night or in zones with fewer M23 fighters. After clashes with the M23, CMC-FDP combatants took revenge on individuals believed to have family ties with M23 members. These human rights violations against civilians violate international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes.
“Civilians living in or around Bukombo are trapped between M23 brutality and that of the CMC-FDP. What they are forced to endure daily is terrible, especially in isolated areas where the CMC-FDP acts with impunity,” said Tigere Chagutah, regional director for East and Southern Africa.
“DRC authorities often condemn M23 violence, as they should, but ignore similar violence and human rights abuses committed by the Wazalendo, including the CMC-FDP. In reality, they condone these crimes and exempt themselves from their duty to protect civilians and hold Wazalendo fighters accountable. The international community must pressure the DRC government to immediately stop supporting these armed groups.”
Between March and April 2026, remote interviews were conducted via secure phone applications with 16 victims, survivors of rape and sexual assault, and family members of civilians killed, raped, tortured, abducted, or mistreated by CMC-FDP fighters between June and December 2025. Credible information was also received from human rights defenders reporting similar violence by this group in the region, including summary executions and arson of homes.
“The international community must pressure the DRC government to immediately stop supporting these armed groups.”
Tigere Chagutah
On June 8, 2026, a letter was sent to the CMC-FDP detailing the findings and requesting information about the conduct of the group’s commanders and fighters toward civilians in areas under their control. CMC-FDP spokesperson Héritier Donald Gashegu replied in writing on June 16, 2026. In the letter, the CMC-FDP denied all responsibility for the documented human rights abuses and stated it “remains committed to respecting Human Rights and the discipline of its fighters.”
Rapes and other sexual violence against women
A woman in her early twenties told investigators that after her husband joined the M23 in May 2025, CMC-FDP fighters abducted her from her home and held her captive for three months. “They gave me a choice: either I go with them or they kill me,” she said.
She stated that CMC-FDP fighters detained her in a house on their camp and introduced her to a commander who would become her “husband.” Each day, fighters gave her a cup of taro and maize to eat. She added that she saw two other women detained in the camp, but fighters threatened to shoot her if she spoke to them. She said the commander raped her repeatedly. “I thought he would kill me if I refused. He came every night [to have sex].” This woman fled when the M23 attacked the CMC-FDP camp.
Another woman, 22, said CMC-FDP fighters abducted her in June 2025 after her husband joined the M23. They took her to their Mudugudu base in Bukombo, where she was forced to become the “wife” of a commander. “He said: ‘If you don’t sleep with me, I’ll kill you.’” She stated there were four other women in the camp, also forced to be fighters’ “wives.”
She added that she also saw civilians detained and mistreated in the camp. “They took people and brought them to the base. If you had nothing of value, they beat you. If you were lucky, they left you alone. They put people in [underground detention cells]. They detained people to make money.” These acts amount to the war crime of hostage-taking.
This woman fled in October 2025 after the M23 attacked the camp.
The two sexual violence victims interviewed were held in conditions amounting to sexual slavery. They reported contracting sexually transmitted infections from the rapes, causing pain and suffering. Both were treated at health centers, but many victims of sexual violence by Wazalendo armed groups lack access to adequate medical or psychological care.
Sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence committed in the context of an armed conflict are grave violations of international humanitarian law that amount to war crimes. They also violate several human rights, including the right to equality and non-discrimination, the right to physical integrity, and the right not to be subjected to torture or other ill-treatment.
The CMC-FDP stated it “categorically rejects” allegations that its fighters raped, sexually enslaved, or forced women to “marry” its commanders. “No complaint, official report, or referral has been brought to the attention of our internal disciplinary or judicial bodies concerning the facts mentioned.”
CMC-FDP leaders should have been aware of the violence perpetrated by their commanders. They could be considered complicit if they knew violence was occurring and failed to act to prevent or stop it.
Ill-treatment and other violence against women
On November 20, 2025, eight people, including a pregnant woman and her husband, took refuge in a banana plantation in Mashango, a village in Bukombo, during an exchange of fire between the M23 and local armed groups, likely including the CMC-FDP.
Armed fighters found them and demanded cooking oil. “We told them we had no more oil. They [then] looted everything we had and burned our houses. One [fighter] took pity on me. He said: ‘This woman is pregnant and about to give birth, we must spare her.’”
She said the fighters were from the CMC-FDP because the group had a base in Mashango, in the Bukombo grouping, a region it controlled.
The fighters took her husband and killed him. “They cut him with machetes. Everyone was killed with machetes. I [then] went to look for the bodies… when we found the bodies, they were already decomposing.” This woman gave birth to a baby boy alone in the forest at 5:30 PM that day.
Another female victim said her husband joined the M23 in June 2025 and CMC-FDP fighters came to her home the following month. “Four of them [arrived] at noon,” she said. “Two had pistols, the other two had whips. I asked them to have pity on me because I was pregnant. They replied: ‘Your pregnancy is not our problem; we want to see your husband.’ They beat me. They struck and wounded me with a knife. The next day, I miscarried.”
The CMC-FDP denied the allegation that they looted and burned houses.
Revenge killings and summary executions
Nine victims and survivors said CMC-FDP fighters killed their husbands or abducted them because their sons or husbands had joined the M23.
A 35-year-old woman said a commander and six CMC-FDP fighters came to her home in Kyahemba, a village in the Bukombo grouping, in November 2025. She said the commander entered the house and asked her: “Have you let [the M23] recruit your child?” She said her 15-year-old son had left without warning earlier in the month to join the M23. “I replied that I did not know how he was recruited. At that moment, he started shooting at my husband.” She said her husband was hit three times in the chest in front of their eight- and six-year-old children. She was later told her son had died while with the M23.
“They shot him [my husband] three times in the chest and genitals. After killing him, they looted the house. They left with four goats, clothes, and pots.”
Elisabeth*
According to four victims and information from a human rights defender, a CMC-FDP commander based in Kyahemba was involved in the detention or killing of their relatives.
Another woman, Elisabeth*, said six CMC-FDP fighters, including four former neighbors, came to her home in November 2025 looking for her husband. “They told us to leave the house. They said: ‘You collaborate with the [M23]…’ They behaved as if [my husband] was in cahoots with the M23. They shot him three times in the chest and genitals. After killing him, they looted the house. They left with four goats, clothes, and pots.”
In its response, the CMC-FDP did not specify measures taken to investigate allegations that its fighters killed civilians. It stated it lacked sufficient information to conduct investigations.
Extortion and threats
Before the M23 arrived in the region, the CMC-FDP collected money from residents as a form of tax called lala salama (“sleep peacefully” in Swahili). These “taxes” were supposedly meant to fund civilian protection. One victim said her husband joined the M23 because he was fed up with these extortions.
Innocent*, who worked in Kyahemba, said CMC-FDP fighters approached him three times after his son joined the M23 in August 2025 and demanded money for that reason. He gave them US$300. “Each time, they told me to make my son join their group. I said it wasn’t me who took him there. How would I find him? Every time they came, they beat me. They burned three houses, mine and two others. They said they would kill me if I didn’t give them money.”
Justine*, a 20-year-old woman, said her husband fled in July or August last year without warning. In September, CMC-FDP fighters came to her home. “I look like a Tutsi. [The CMC-FDP fighters] forced the door, entered, and whipped me once on the back and once on the chest. They tied my hands. They said: ‘Tell us where your husband is.’” When she said she didn’t know, they said they would take her to one of the CMC-FDP military commanders and implied he would force her to reveal her husband’s whereabouts.
“Every time they came, they beat me. They burned three houses, mine and two others. They said they would kill me if I didn’t give them money.”
Innocent*
On the way, one of the fighters helped her escape. “I was carrying a child and the fighter took pity on the baby. He said: ‘If you go this way, they will kill you.’”
Justine believed fear drove her husband to join the M23. She said that in July or August, the M23 threatened her husband: “[You] are a Tutsi from Rwanda, and all Tutsis who do not join the M23 will be beheaded.”
The CMC-FDP wrote that it has “neither a policy nor practice of demanding ransoms or payments from relatives of those who have joined the M23 or any other enemy movement. If isolated cases of conduct contrary to our principles existed, we would be the first to want to know the perpetrators so that appropriate measures are taken in accordance with disciplinary rules and the requirements of justice.”
CMC-FDP leaders should have known that extortion and ransom practices were occurring and had a responsibility to investigate and hold involved fighters accountable. If they knew these actions were happening and failed to act, they could be considered complicit.
Congolese army support for the CMC-FDP
In May 2023, the DRC adopted a law creating the Armed Defense Reserve, which provided for the integration of some local armed groups, including the CMC-FDP, into the Congolese army as auxiliary forces to fight the M23.
The FARDC assists these armed groups financially and by providing weapons and ammunition. In December 2025, the DRC finance minister told the National Assembly’s Defense and Security Commission that the state paid Wazalendo groups US$4 million per month.
According to an internal document from the military government of North Kivu obtained by Ebuteli, a Congolese research group, the CMC-FDP received over 100,000 rounds of ammunition and over 100 40-mm rockets from the FARDC in late 2023 and early 2024.
“It is unacceptable that the Congolese army continues to support CMC-FDP fighters despite the terrible human rights abuses they inflict on civilians.”
Tigere Chagutah
In July 2024, the European Union sanctioned the CMC-FDP’s commander-in-chief, Dominique “Domi” Kamanzi Ndaruhutse, for “committing acts that constitute serious human rights violations and abuses.” He has fought within various nyatura (“hit hard” in Kinyarwanda) groups for over 10 years and, according to the UN Group of Experts on the DRC, has collaborated with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), particularly in the Bwito grouping (Rutshuru territory). The FDLR is an armed opposition group operating in eastern DRC composed of Rwandan and Congolese fighters. Its ranks include former members of the Interahamwe and former Rwandan soldiers responsible for the 1994 genocide, as well as fighters who did not participate in the genocide.
“It is unacceptable that the Congolese army continues to support CMC-FDP fighters despite the terrible human rights abuses they inflict on civilians,” said Tigere Chagutah. “The group has engaged in rampant violence for years. Congolese authorities must immediately end collaboration with and support for the CMC-FDP and other Wazalendo groups committing atrocities, and hold them accountable.”
* Pseudonyms are used to protect the identity of interviewees for security and confidentiality reasons.