Volker Türk, the United Nations human rights official, stated that his office has “confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23… We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons.” The United Nations Human Rights Council established a panel earlier this month to investigate atrocities committed by Congolese government forces and rebels since the start of the year. The M23 is the most visible of over 100 armed organizations battling for control of eastern Congo’s trillions of dollars in rich minerals, which are used in much of the world’s technology. The United Nations’ human rights chief accused Rwanda-backed rebels who seized a second major city in eastern Congo of killing children and destroying hospitals and humanitarian goods warehouses. Volker Türk says in a statement Tuesday that his office “confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week. We are also aware that children were inpossession of weapons.”
The United Nations Human Rights Council has launched a commission to investigate atrocities, including rapes and “summary executions,” committed by both sides since the beginning of the year. The M23 rebels captured Bukavu, a city of 1.3 million people, on Sunday after seizing Goma, 63 miles to the north, last month. At least 3,000 people were killed and thousands displaced.

Barhahiga) The M23 is the most visible of more than 100 armed groups fighting for control of eastern Congo’s trillions of dollars in mineral wealth, which is essential to much of the world’s technology. According to UN experts, the rebels have the help of approximately 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda. Rwanda accuses Congo of enrolling Hutu fighters who carried out the 1994 genocide against minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. M23 claims to be fighting to protect Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan heritage from discrimination and to turn Congo from a failed state to a modern one — but critics believe this is only a cover for Rwanda’s involvement.

Unlike in 2012, when the M23 briefly seized Goma and withdrew after international pressure, analysts have said the rebels this time are eyeing political power.

The decades-long fighting has displaced more than 6 million people in the region, creating the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

A Ugandan military official said Tuesday that Ugandan troops had entered the eastern Congolese city of Bunia to assist the Congolese army in quelling deadly violence by armed ethnic groups.