An armed group operating with the backing of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) has been implicated in a horrific pattern of violence, including the killing and torture of civilians, widespread looting, and the abduction of women for sexual enslavement in the Rutshuru territory of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). These alarming findings were brought to light on June 25.
Known as the Collective of Movements for Change-People’s Defense Forces (CMC-FDP), this group is part of the Wazalendo – a Swahili term meaning “patriots” – a loosely organized coalition of armed factions. The Congolese army reportedly utilizes these groups as auxiliary forces in its ongoing conflict against the M23 Movement, which is said to receive support from Rwanda. The CMC-FDP primarily operates within the Bukombo groupement in Rutshuru, an area currently under M23 control.
Civilians residing in and around Bukombo find themselves trapped between the brutal actions of the M23 and the CMC-FDP. Their daily ordeal is dire, particularly in remote areas where the CMC-FDP operates with complete impunity.
Tigere Chagutah, Regional Director for East and Southern Africa at Amnesty International
The CMC-FDP maintains secluded bases in Bukombo, deliberately targeting civilians, often under the cover of night or in regions where M23 fighters are less prevalent. Following clashes with the M23, CMC-FDP combatants have reportedly exacted revenge on individuals perceived to have family ties to M23 members. Such human rights violations against civilians flagrantly disregard international humanitarian law and could constitute war crimes.
“The plight of civilians in Bukombo and its environs is truly harrowing, caught between the M23’s brutality and that of the CMC-FDP,” stated Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa. “Their daily suffering is immense, especially in isolated regions where the CMC-FDP acts without accountability.”
Chagutah further emphasized, “While DRC authorities rightfully condemn M23 violence, they frequently overlook similar violence and human rights abuses perpetrated by the Wazalendo, including the CMC-FDP. In essence, this condones these crimes and absolves the government of its duty to safeguard civilians and bring Wazalendo combatants to justice. The international community must exert pressure on the DRC government to immediately cease its support for these armed groups.”
Between March and April 2026, Amnesty International conducted remote interviews, utilizing secure phone applications, with 16 victims, survivors of rape and sexual assault, and family members of civilians who were killed, raped, tortured, abducted, or subjected to ill-treatment by CMC-FDP fighters between June and December 2025. Credible information detailing similar violence by the group in the region, including summary executions and house arsons, was also received from human rights defenders.
The international community must exert pressure on the DRC government to immediately cease its support for these armed groups.
Tigere Chagutah
On June 8, 2026, Amnesty International conveyed its findings to the CMC-FDP, requesting information regarding the conduct of the group’s commanders and combatants towards civilians in areas under their control. Héritier Donald Gashegu, the CMC-FDP spokesperson, responded in writing on June 16, 2026. In his correspondence, the CMC-FDP denied all responsibility for the documented human rights abuses, asserting its commitment to “respect for Human Rights and the discipline of its combatants.”
Sexual violence and other abuses against women
A woman, in her early twenties, recounted to Amnesty International that after her husband joined the M23 in May 2025, CMC-FDP combatants abducted her from her home and held her captive for three months. “They gave me a choice: either I went with them, or they would kill me,” she stated.
She described being held by CMC-FDP fighters in a house within their camp, where she was introduced to a commander who was designated to become her “husband.” Daily, combatants provided her with a meager meal of taro and corn. She observed two other women detained in the camp but was threatened with being shot if she attempted to speak to them. The woman explicitly stated that the commander repeatedly raped her. “I believed he would kill me if I refused. He came every night [for sexual relations].” She managed to escape when the M23 attacked the CMC-FDP camp.
Amnesty International also spoke with a 22-year-old woman who reported being abducted by CMC-FDP combatants in June 2025, after her husband joined the M23. She was taken to their Mudugudu base in Bukombo and forced to become a commander’s “wife.” “He said: ‘If you don’t sleep with me, I will kill you.’” She indicated that four other women were also in the camp, similarly forced into becoming “wives” of combatants.
She further disclosed witnessing civilians being detained and mistreated at the camp. “They would take people and bring them to the base. If you had nothing of value, they would beat you. If you were lucky, they would leave you alone. They put people in [underground detention cells]. They detained people to extort money.” These actions bear the hallmarks of the war crime of hostage-taking.
This woman escaped in October 2025 after the M23 launched an assault on the camp.
Both survivors of sexual violence interviewed by Amnesty International were held under conditions amounting to sexual slavery. They reported contracting sexually transmitted infections as a result of the rapes, causing them considerable pain and suffering. While these two women received treatment at health centers, many victims of sexual violence perpetrated by Wazalendo armed groups lack access to adequate medical or psychological care.
Sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence committed during armed conflict constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law, akin to war crimes. They also infringe upon numerous 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 forms of ill-treatment.
The CMC-FDP explicitly stated that it “categorically rejects” allegations of its combatants raping, sexually enslaving, or forcing women to “marry” its commanders. “No complaints, official reports, or referrals have been brought to the attention of our internal disciplinary or judicial bodies concerning the facts mentioned,” their statement read.
CMC-FDP leaders should have been aware of the violence perpetrated by their commanders. They could be considered complicit if they knew these acts were occurring and failed to prevent or stop them.
Ill-treatment and other violence against women
On November 20, 2025, eight individuals, including a pregnant woman and her husband, sought refuge in a banana grove in Mashango, a village in Bukombo, during a firefight between the M23 and local armed groups, likely including the CMC-FDP.
Armed combatants discovered them and demanded cooking oil. “We told them we had no oil left. They [then] looted everything from our home and burned our houses. One [of the combatants] took pity on me. He said: ‘This woman is pregnant and will soon give birth, we must spare her.’”
The woman identified them as CMC-FDP combatants because the group maintained a base in Mashango, within the Bukombo groupement, a region they controlled.
The combatants took her husband and killed him. “They cut him with a machete. Everyone was killed with a machete. I [later] went looking for the bodies… when we found them, they were already decomposing.” This woman gave birth to a baby boy, alone in the forest, at 5:30 p.m. that same day.
Another female victim told Amnesty International that her husband had joined the M23 in June 2025, and CMC-FDP combatants came to her home the following month. “Four of them [arrived] at noon,” she recounted. “Two had pistols, the other two had whips. I begged them to have mercy on me because I was pregnant. They replied: ‘Your pregnancy is not our problem; we want to see your husband.’ They beat me severely. They hit and wounded me with a knife. The next day, I had a miscarriage.”
The CMC-FDP denied the allegation that they had looted and burned homes.
Revenge killings and summary executions
Nine victims and survivors informed Amnesty International that CMC-FDP combatants had killed their husbands or abducted them because their sons or husbands had joined the M23.
A 35-year-old woman stated that a commander and six CMC-FDP combatants came to her home in Kyahemba, a village in the Bukombo groupement, in November 2025. She explained that the commander entered the house and asked her: “Did you let [the M23] recruit your child?” The woman indicated that her 15-year-old son had left without warning earlier that month to join the M23. “I replied that I didn’t know how he was recruited. At that moment, he started shooting my husband.” She specified that her husband was shot three times in the chest in front of their eight and six-year-old children. She was later informed that her son had died while with the M23.
They shot him [my husband] three times in the chest and in the genitals. After shooting him, they looted the house. They left with four goats, clothes, and cooking pots.
Elisabeth*
According to four victims and information provided by a human rights defender, a CMC-FDP commander based in Kyahemba was involved in the detention or killing of their relatives.
Another woman, Elisabeth*, reported that six CMC-FDP combatants, four of whom were former neighbors, came to her home in November 2025, searching for her husband. “They told us to leave the house. They said: ‘You are collaborating with the [M23]…’ They acted as if [my husband] was in league with the M23. They shot him three times in the chest and in the genitals. After shooting him, they looted the house. They left with four goats, clothes, and cooking pots.”
In its response to Amnesty International, the CMC-FDP did not specify measures taken to investigate allegations of its combatants killing civilians. It asserted that it lacked sufficient information to conduct inquiries.
Extortion and threats
Before the M23’s arrival in the region, the CMC-FDP extorted money from residents, a form of taxation known as lala salama (“sleep peacefully” in Swahili). These “taxes” were purportedly for civilian protection. One victim stated that her husband joined the M23 because he was weary of these extortions.
Innocent*, who worked in Kyahemba, reported that CMC-FDP combatants had approached him three times since his son joined the M23 in August 2025, demanding money for this reason. He gave them 300 US dollars. “Each time, they told me to make sure my son joined their group. I said it wasn’t me who took him there. How was I supposed to 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, stated that her husband fled in July or August of the previous year without warning. In September, CMC-FDP combatants came to her home. “I look like a Tutsi. [The CMC-FDP combatants] forced the door, entered, and whipped me once on the back and once on the chest. They tied my hands. They told me: ‘Tell us where your husband is.’” When she replied that she didn’t know, they explained 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*
En route, one of the combatants helped her escape. “I was carrying a child, and the combatant 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 explained that in July or August, the M23 had threatened her husband, stating: “[You] are a Tutsi from Rwanda, and all Tutsis who do not join the M23 will be decapitated.”
The CMC-FDP wrote that it had “neither a policy nor a practice of demanding ransoms or payments from relatives of those who have joined the M23 or any other enemy movement. If isolated cases of behavior contrary to our principles existed, we would be the first interested in identifying the perpetrators so that appropriate measures could be taken in accordance with disciplinary rules and the demands of justice.”
CMC-FDP leaders should have been aware of the extortion and ransom practices taking place and had a responsibility to investigate them and hold involved combatants accountable. If they knew these actions were occurring and failed to take necessary steps to stop them, they could be considered complicit.
Congolese army support for CMC-FDP
In May 2023, the DRC enacted a law establishing the Armed Defense Reserve, which provided for the integration of certain local armed groups, including the CMC-FDP, into the Congolese army, thereby forming an auxiliary force to combat the M23.
The FARDC provides financial aid and supplies weapons and ammunition to these armed groups. In December 2025, the DRC Minister of Finance informed the National Assembly’s Defense and Security Commission that the state was paying the Wazalendo groups 4 million US dollars monthly.
According to an internal document from the North Kivu military government obtained by Ebuteli, a Congolese research group, the CMC-FDP received over 100,000 rounds of ammunition and more than 100 40-millimeter rockets from the FARDC in late 2023 and early 2024.
It is unacceptable that the Congolese army continues to support CMC-FDP combatants despite the terrible human rights abuses they inflict on civilians.
Tigere Chagutah
In July 2024, the European Union sanctioned the CMC-FDP commander-in-chief, Dominique “Domi” Kamanzi Ndaruhutse, for “committing acts that constitute serious human rights violations and abuses.” This individual has fought within various Nyatura (“strike hard” in Kinyarwanda) groups for over 10 years and, according to the United Nations Group of Experts on the DRC, has collaborated with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), particularly in the Bwito groupement (Rutshuru territory). The FDLR is an armed opposition group operating in eastern DRC, composed of Rwandan and Congolese fighters. Its ranks include former Interahamwe members and former Rwandan soldiers responsible for the 1994 genocide, as well as combatants who did not participate in the genocide.
“It is unacceptable that the Congolese army continues to support CMC-FDP combatants despite the terrible human rights abuses they inflict on civilians,” stated Tigere Chagutah. “The group has engaged in rampant violence for years. DRC authorities must immediately end collaboration with and support for the CMC-FDP and other abusive Wazalendo groups, and ensure they are held accountable.”
* Pseudonyms are used to protect the identity of interviewees for security and confidentiality reasons.
