Rwanda-backed M23 fighters have killed, tortured and forcibly recruited artisanal miners in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and helped traffic gold and coltan into Rwanda, Amnesty International says, allegations that could amount to war crimes and expose companies buying the minerals to legal and reputational risks.
The rights group said its investigation, published on Sept. 21, documented abuses at a coltan mine near Rubaya in North Kivu province and a gold mine at Lomera in South Kivu, including summary killings, forced labour, arbitrary detention and torture. Amnesty interviewed 26 people, including miners, mine-shaft owners, mining experts and relatives of victims, and analysed photographs and videos from the mining areas.
“Rwanda-backed M23 is committing horrific human rights abuses, which may amount to war crimes, against artisanal miners in eastern DRC. These are meant to punish and instill fear among miners and others living and working near the mines, as minerals are trafficked across the border into Rwanda, which has continued to profit from the exploitation of DRC’s mineral wealth,” said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
Amnesty said it documented the killing of 18 artisanal miners at Rubaya and Lomera, with witnesses and relatives saying 10 were beaten to death, two were shot and six people who had been abducted were later found dead. Sixteen miners or civilians living near the sites also described being tortured or otherwise mistreated, while more than 20 miners at Rubaya were allegedly held in underground detention cells and beaten three times a day.
The allegations add to longstanding international scrutiny of the mineral trade between eastern Congo and Rwanda, where armed groups, traders and regional authorities have been accused of exploiting supply chains that connect conflict zones to global markets for electronics and other products.
The Democratic Republic of Congo was the world’s largest producer of tantalum in 2024, accounting for an estimated 51% of global output, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Tantalum, derived in part from coltan ore, is used in electronic components because of its resistance to heat and corrosion. The USGS estimated Congo’s tantalum mine production at 1,300 metric tons in 2025, compared with 400 tons for Rwanda.
Rwanda was nevertheless the world’s third-largest tantalum producer in 2024, accounting for about 15% of global production, according to the USGS. Its mineral exports were worth $3.2 billion in 2024, with gold accounting for 47% of the total and niobium and tantalum for 3.1%.
The discrepancy between Rwanda’s relatively small domestic tantalum production and its role as a regional trading and processing hub has been a focus of international scrutiny. The U.S. State Department said in a 2024 statement that credible reporting indicated Rwanda remained a destination and processing hub for illegally mined critical minerals and gold originating in eastern Congo, while noting that existing traceability schemes faced questions over their effectiveness.
A 2025 report by a United Nations Security Council sanctions-monitoring group found that M23 had exploited coltan, cassiterite and other minerals at numerous sites around Rubaya and controlled trading centres and mineral transport routes. The report said M23 had established a monopoly over coltan exports from Rubaya to Rwanda and that minerals from the area were mixed with Rwandan production.
The United Nations report described the Rubaya trade as a significant contamination of mineral supply chains in the Great Lakes region, while saying the group’s control of the area allowed it to benefit from taxes and mineral trading. Another UN document said the seizure of Rubaya in April 2024 appeared to have been driven in part by a strategic effort to control the mineral evacuation route and make Rwanda the principal transit market for coltan from the area.
Amnesty said its researchers found evidence that gold was being moved from Lomera to Rwanda through established smuggling routes. According to interviews and evidence reviewed by its Evidence Lab, sacks containing gold-bearing soil were loaded onto boats at the Port of Lomera and transported across Lake Kivu to a collection site in Kamembe, in Rwanda’s Western province.
One Congolese miner who worked at Lomera said: “I was there at night. I hid and saw that [M23] sent three groups … to different mineshafts. They took the mineralized sand [soil containing gold] and took it near the lake…When they arrived, they put it in small boats and sent it to Rwanda.”
Another miner said: “We saw [boats being loaded]. Loaded with robotas [sacks of soil containing gold]. They did this very early in the morning. Each morning, they came with traders from Rwanda. And the same boats came at night.”
Amnesty said it believed the seizure and trafficking of gold and coltan by M23 could constitute the war crime of pillage. It also said the involvement of Rwandans in the mines and the movement of minerals into Rwanda could expose the Rwandan state and individuals to international legal responsibility, depending on evidence of direction or control.
“This investigation should serve as a wake-up call to Rwanda that Rwandans may bear international criminal responsibility for facilitating the trafficking of pillaged minerals to Rwanda,” said Callamard. “Rwanda may also bear state responsibility for the horrific abuses against miners if Rwandans in the mines are acting under the direction or control of Rwanda, even if they are not employees of the government.”
Amnesty said miners interviewed at Rubaya reported that Rwandans worked both as civilian miners and mine-shaft managers and, in some cases, participated alongside M23 fighters. It also said some security guards at Rubaya and Lomera identified themselves as Rwandan or spoke Kinyarwanda and were alleged to have collaborated with M23 in beating and mistreating miners. Neither M23 nor Rwandan government officials responded to Amnesty’s requests for comment, the rights group said.
The allegations concern minerals that eventually enter global manufacturing supply chains, raising questions for companies that buy tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold from the region. Tantalum is used in capacitors and other high-reliability electronic components, including products used in telecommunications, computing, automotive and aerospace applications. The USGS classifies tantalum as a critical mineral, while Congo remains the world’s dominant source of mined tantalum.
The OECD has for more than a decade urged companies sourcing minerals from conflict-affected and high-risk areas to conduct risk-based due diligence to identify, prevent and mitigate human rights abuses and conflict financing in their supply chains. Its guidance covers gold and the so-called 3TG minerals: tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold.
The OECD said in its 2026 Responsible Business Outlook that mineral due-diligence regulations now exist in several jurisdictions, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, the European Union, the United States, Tanzania, Colombia and the United Arab Emirates, reflecting a shift toward mandatory oversight of mineral supply chains.
Amnesty said companies could not rely solely on assurances from suppliers in Rwanda because minerals originating in M23-controlled areas can be mixed with material from other sources before entering international markets.
“The brutality of the crimes detailed in this report should be a warning for all corporations buying minerals from Rwanda. These minerals are likely to be trafficked into Rwanda from eastern DRC, where miners are the victims of horrific abuses at the hands of Rwanda-backed M23,” Callamard said.
“The weight of evidence from Amnesty International and others means that corporations cannot claim ignorance. Their purchase of minerals out of Rwanda – and from the smelters that buy from Rwanda – is likely to contribute to human rights abuses by M23 in Rubaya and Lomera. Corporations could be held criminally responsible for complicity in war crimes.”
Amnesty called on governments and companies to stop purchasing coltan and gold from Rwanda, or from processors and refineries in third countries that source those minerals from Rwanda, until Rwanda provides evidence that it has stopped receiving minerals trafficked from Congo. It also urged the United States and European Union member states not to enter mining agreements involving Rubaya or other M23-controlled mines unless independent international monitors have unrestricted access.
Mohd Hassan has extensive experience in news gathering, editing, and writing for the newswire industry, Contact – Info@impactnews-wire.com
Nadine Gordimer
Biggest Selling Title: Burger’s Daughter
Short Bio: A South African writer and political activist, Gordimer received the Nobel Prize in Literature for her work
that explores the complexities of life during apartheid in South Africa.
Feral Filly
I cannot see a comment section underneath a page on MyZA that I really find benefit from – https://myza.co.za/sa-news-headlines/ – so wanted to post a thank you here under this article if you do not mind at all. Iff my thank you is not appropriate please do delete, I will not be offended.
dr. cocktail
Fun South African Fact: The first successful heart transplant was in a Cape Town hospital