M23 Rebels Abduct 130 Hospital Patients in DR Congo

The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels abducted at least 130 sick and wounded men from two hospitals in the Goma city of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a United Nations reportstated on Monday, March 3.

On the night of Feb. 28, the report says, the rebels invaded the CBCA Ndosho Hospital and the Heal Africa Hospital, taking the ailing patients into custody. U.N. Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement that the abducted men were suspected to be Congolese soldiers or members of a pro-government militia known as Wazalendo.

“It is deeply distressing that M23 is snatching patients from hospital beds in coordinated raids and holding them incommunicado in undisclosed locations,” Shamdasani said.

“It must immediately release them and return them to the hospital so that they can continue their medical treatment, and take prompt and concrete steps to ensure an end to such arbitrary and abusive raids.”

Since capturing Goma in January, the Tutsi-led M23 rebels have launched a rapid and unprecedented expansion into eastern Congo, securing key territories and gaining control of lucrative mineral resources.

The M23 rebels’ relentless push marks the most severe intensification of a decades-long conflict fueled by the legacy of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the quest for dominance over the Congo’s rich mineral wealth.

Some 7,000 people have died since January in fighting in the eastern Republic of Congo, with combatants and civilians among the dead, according to Judith Suminwa, the prime minister of the DRC. About 3,000 deaths were reported in Goma, the prime minister said, and about 450,0000 people were left without shelter after 90 displacement camps were destroyed.

However, the UN urged the M23 rebels to respect international humanitarian law protecting the sick and the wounded in the course of war.

“Under international humanitarian law, which must be respected by all parties in the ongoing conflict, the wounded and sick must be able to receive the medical care and attention they need. Hospitals must be respected and protected in all circumstances, including by refraining from interference with their functioning,” the statement read.