The Democratic Republic of Congo has been facing political instability and armed violence since 1996, with an estimated six million people killed since the conflict began.

In March 2022 the M23 armed group launched a new offensive and seized territory in eastern DRC, displacing more than a million people. According to a Human Rights Watch report, the M23 allegedly executed scores of villagers and militia members between November 2022 and April 2023, burying them in mass graves in the village of Kishishe, North Kivu.

The report says that M23 has committed unlawful killings, rape, and other war crimes since late 2022, exacerbating the dire humanitarian crisis in the country. 171 civilians were executed in the last ten days of November alone, according to the UN's human rights office.

In this episode of The Stream, we’ll look at how the battle between M23 and DR Congo’s government is affecting civilians and ask what can end this cycle of violence.

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