In recent days, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report showing a sharp rise in burials at Rwanda’s Kanombe military cemetery, coinciding with renewed M23 fighting in eastern Congo. Satellite imagery revealed more than 1,100 new graves since 2022 — raising questions about Rwanda’s denials of troop losses.
Human Rights Watch’s geospatial analysis of Kanombe Military Cemetery in Kigali reveals a surge in new graves between 2022 and 2025 — a period that aligns with the escalation of the M23 rebellion in eastern DRC. Because Kanombe is a military-only cemetery, the increase strongly suggests Rwandan Defense Force casualties. The pattern raises hard questions: if Rwanda denies fighting in Congo, why do its military cemeteries fill up whenever war intensifies across the border? And why do international partners continue business as usual with Kigali despite such contradictions?
Human Rights Watch has accused the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels of massacring civilians in eastern Congo’s North Kivu province. Survivors describe indiscriminate killings and burned villages. As peace talks continue abroad, urgent questions remain: how many more lives must be lost before M23 is recognized as a terrorist group?
