Just a few weeks ago, Donald Trump He congratulated himself in the White House for having achieved what he presented as a historic milestone: peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
After brokering an agreement between Kinshasa and Kigali, the American president proclaimed the end of “one of the worst wars ever seen” and promised a future of stability and prosperity for the region.
The final agreement – known as the “Washington Agreement” – was signed on June 27, 2025 in Washington, between the foreign ministers of both countries, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner (DRC) y Olivier Nduhungirehe (Rwanda), with the presence of the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
But that “Trumpian peace” has been more than questioned with the massacre of at least 140 civilians in the east of the country, attributed to the M23 rebels, which has returned the Congo to the harshness of an entrenched conflict, as reported BBC.
March 23 Movement (M23) rebels killed at least 140 civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during the month of July, according to a report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The complaint comes in the middle of the peace process sponsored by the US and Qatar, which calls into question the viability of diplomatic efforts to pacify one of the most turbulent regions on the continent.
Testimonies collected by HRW describe summary executions of men, women and children of the Hutu community in the Rutshuru area, near Virunga National Park.
The fighters, backed by Rwanda according to the report, surrounded entire villages and blocked exits before going on a rampage with guns and machetes.
“They took about 70 women and children, they sat us down on the edge of a river and started shooting,” said a survivor who managed to escape by jumping into the water.
In Katanga, a witness told how he lost five members of his family in a matter of hours. Another claimed that he saw his wife and four children die from a distance.
The rebels, according to HRW, forced residents to bury the bodies immediately or leave them unburied. In some cases, the bodies were thrown into the Rutshuru River.
The report is based on 25 direct testimonies, as well as medical, military and United Nations sources.
Both the UN and HRW point to the involvement of the Rwandan Army in the operation, which Kigali vehemently rejects.. The Rwandan government consistently denies supporting the M23 and attributes the killings to rival armed groups.
The massacre took place within the framework of an offensive by the M23 against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Hutu group in which those responsible for the 1994 genocide are still active.
The ethnic and geopolitical background once again strains relations between Kinshasa and Kigali, despite the agreement reached this summer that obliged the Congolese Government to neutralize the FDLR.
Violence mars recent attempts at dialogue. At the end of July, in Doha, representatives of the M23 and the Executive of Felix Tshisekedi They signed a ceasefire that was to pave the way to peace.
However, a few days later, the rebels left the table alleging non-compliance on the part of Kinshasa.
Although they announced the sending of a technical delegation to Qatar, the Congolese army accuses the group of already breaking the truce.
Since the beginning of the year, the M23 has consolidated positions in the province of North Kivu, controlling large areas and even surrounding the regional capital, Goma.
The UN warns that thousands of people have died and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee in one of the world’s most serious humanitarian crises.
HRW calls on the UN Security Council, the European Union and allied governments to strengthen sanctions and press for commanders implicated in atrocities to be arrested and prosecuted.