Rwanda flays (HRW's count of new graves at military cemetery in Kigali, calling it 'disrespectful'

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) – Rwanda on Friday condemned Human Rights Watch's (HRW) count of new graves at its military cemetery in the capital Kigali, calling it "disrespectful and an obsessional operation."

Instead of counting the graves, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe argued in a post on the US social media platform X that HRW should have focused on the alleged persecution of the Congolese Tutsi minority in eastern Congo.

The minister's response follows an HRW report released on Thursday, which stated that geospatial analysis shows a significant increase in graves at Kanombe military cemetery in Kigali since the resurgence of M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

According to HRW, 1,171 new graves were recorded between 2022 and July 2025, raising new questions about the alleged role of the Rwandan military in the conflict.

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 increase per week between each date.

The report claimed that from 2017 to mid-2021, there were, on average, 1.7 new graves per week.

However, from early 2022, following the M23 resurgence, the number gradually increased to 6 per week.

“Between Dec. 15, 2024, and Apr. 9, 2025, a timeframe that includes heavy fighting around Goma and its capture by the M23, the number of weekly new graves reached 22,” the report said.

Rwanda's Foreign Minister, Nduhungirehe, responded: "Instead of counting and coloring 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 (militias)?

"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'?”

Earlier, Yolande Makolo, a Rwandan government spokesperson, questioned how "stalking Rwandan cemeteries" could be a "human rights" issue.

“Human Rights Watch is disingenuous and desperate for attention,” Makolo said on X.

For HRW, the increase in graves coincided with the “M23 armed group and Rwanda Defense Force offensive on Goma and Bukavu cities” in eastern Congo in Jan. 2025.

The UN, Kinshasa, and others accuse neighboring Rwanda of supporting M23, which Kigali denies.

In July, Congo and a coalition of various rebel groups, including M23, signed in Doha a ceasefire deal dubbed the "Declaration of Principles."

But fighting in eastern Congo continues amid counteraccusations of violating a ceasefire.