Rebels in eastern Congo abducted 130 hospital patients, U.N. says

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels abduct 130 patients from hospitals in eastern Congo, escalating conflict and sparking international concern.

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels abducted at least 130 sick and wounded men from two hospitals in a major city in eastern Congo, the United Nations said Monday (March 3, 2025).

On February 28, M23 fighters raided the CBCA Ndosho Hospital and Heal Africa Hospital in Goma, a strategic city they seized earlier this year, the U.N. Human Rights Office spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani, said in a statement.

The rebels took 116 patients from CBCA and 15 others from Heal Africa they suspected of being Congolese Army soldiers or members of the pro-government Wazalendo militia.

“It is deeply distressing that M23 is snatching patients from hospital beds in coordinated raids and holding them incommunicado in undisclosed locations,” Ms. Shamdasani said, calling for their immediate release.

M23 rebels have swept through eastern Congo since the beginning of the year, seizing key cities and killing some 3,000 people in the most significant escalation of conflict in over a decade.

In a lightning three-week offensive, the M23 took control of eastern Congo’s main city Goma and seized the second largest city, Bukavu. The region is rich in gold and coltan, a key mineral for the production of capacitors used in most consumer electronics, such as laptops and smartphones.

The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, over 1,600km away.