Rwanda calls Human Rights Watch's count of new graves at military cemetery "disrespectful"
According to the HRW, 1,171 new graves were recorded between 2022 and 2025, the increase coinciding with the M23 armed group's offensive on Goma and Bukavu cities in the eastern DRC in January 2025.
Rwanda has called the counting of new graves at the country's military cemetery in the capital of Kigali by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) a "disrespectful and obsessional operation."
Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Olivier Nduhungirehe made the remarks on Friday, in reaction to the HRW report released on Thursday, which claimed that a geospatial analysis shows a significant increase in graves in Kanombe Military Cemetery in Kigali, since the resurgence of the March 23 Movement (M23) rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
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In a post on social media platform X, Nduhungirehe questioned why the HRW did not focus its attention on the alleged persecution of the Congolese Tutsi in the eastern DRC by militia groups.
"Instead of counting and colouring graves of Rwandan families in a macabre, disrespectful and obsessional operation, where was HRW in October 2023 to show satellite images in Nturo Village, Masisi Territory, North Kivu before and after the burning down of 300 homes of Congolese Tutsi, by the Kinshasa-backed Nyatura, FDLR and Wazalendo?" he asked.
"Are persecuted Congolese Tutsi less 'human' than graves in Rwandan cemeteries to warrant the interest of Human Rights Watch, nicknamed 'the travesty of human rights'?" Nduhungirehe added.
Yolande Makolo, spokesperson for the Rwandan government, said on X earlier that the Human Rights Watch is "disingenuous and desperate for attention." She wondered how "stalking Rwandan cemeteries" can conceivably be a "human rights" issue.
According to the HRW, 1,171 new graves were recorded between 2022 and 2025, the increase coinciding with the M23 armed group's offensive on Goma and Bukavu cities in the eastern DRC in January 2025.
The HRW said it counted the new individual graves using high-resolution satellite imagery at 14 different times, from January 2017 to July 2025, and calculated the average weekly increase between each date.
The eastern DRC has suffered decades of conflict, worsened by the resurgence of the M23 since late 2021. Kinshasa accuses Kigali of backing the group, allegations Rwanda has repeatedly denied.
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