00:00Rwanda-backed AFC M23 rebels have been accused of savagely carrying out massacres after officials
00:07reported finding more than 170 bodies in mass graves in the eastern city of Uvira.
00:14Authorities released video showing Jean-Jacques Proussi Siddiqui, governor of South Kivu,
00:19and other officials visiting one of the grave sites in late February.
00:23This is a terrible tragedy that we denounce. These are war crimes, crimes against humanity.
00:28We have been victims of a serious genocide that no one talks about.
00:32The rebels briefly captured Uvira in December before withdrawing under pressure from the United States.
00:38Reuters was unable to independently verify the identity of the bodies or how these people died.
00:44AFC M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka strongly denied the massacre accusations.
00:50This information is a force. It's actually politically motivated, full of lies and full of propaganda.
00:57The discovery of the mass graves came as fighting continued between the Democratic Republic of Congo's government and the M23
01:04rebels.
01:05Thousands of people have been displaced in recent months, worsening an already dire humanitarian situation.
01:12The conflict stepped up sharply last year, with the rebels seizing territory across the mineral-rich East in a lightning
01:18offensive.
01:19On Monday, the U.S. slapped sanctions on Rwanda's defense force and its top military officials over their role in
01:26the fighting.
01:27It also demanded their immediate withdrawal from the region.
01:31Rwanda has long rejected allegations from Congo, the United Nations and Western powers that it supports the rebel group.
01:38But the U.S. Treasury Department said the rebels' gains would have been impossible without Rwandan backing,
01:44while the State Department said Rwanda's support had enabled horrific human rights abuses.
01:50In a statement, Rwanda's government said the sanctions unjustly targeted only one party to the peace process and, quote,
01:58distort the facts of the conflict.
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