Christians in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are being targeted in what Amnesty International describes as “war crimes” amid an “escalating humanitarian crisis”.
The report, published on Tuesday, found that the Islamic State-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) carried out widespread attacks on civilians across eastern DRC, including killings, abductions and torture.
Rawya Rageh, a crisis response researcher at Amnesty International, told The Telegraph that the ADF had carried out “really horrific attacks…” and that “the vast majority of the ADF’s victims have been Christians”.
The report documented violent attacks throughout 2025, including a killing spree in September 2025 in the village of Ntoyo, where more than 60 people were killed using machetes, hammers and guns.
Amnesty International’s secretary general, Agnès Callamard, said civilians “have suffered extensive brutality… killed, abducted and tortured in a dehumanising campaign of abuse”.
Witnesses described the scale of the violence when speaking to the charity, with one saying: “I’d never seen so many bodies,” while another survivor said attackers “shot at anything that moved”.
The report also documented 46 abductions, including children forced into labour and roles in attacks. Women and girls were subjected to sexual violence, forced marriages and threats of death for refusing to convert to Islam or take a husband.
Rageh added that the group had also “abducted and killed Muslims who do not espouse their version of the religion”.
Callamard warned the abuses were “war crimes which the world must not continue to ignore,” urging urgent action to protect civilians.
Last month, the United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on former Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila for his support of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels and for fueling political instability in Congo's troubled east.
The US Treasury Department said M23 and its political-military arm, the Congo River Alliance (AFC), had been stoking violent conflict in eastern DRC, resulting in the deaths of thousands of civilians and a mass displacement crisis.
Treasury said Kabila had provided financial support to the AFC in order to influence the political situation in eastern DRC, while encouraging DRC troops to defect and join AFC forces. It said Kabila was working to regain influence over the government by backing a candidate opposed to the current leader.
DRC Deputy Prime Minister Jacquemain Shabani welcomed what he called a long-delayed U.S. move against Kabila. "He is the instigator, the initiator, the architect of the destabilization of Congo," Shabani said. "Mr. Kabila is among those who make achieving peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo difficult and complicated."
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is number 29 on the 2026 Open Doors World Watch List, which ranks the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution.
(Additional reporting by Reuters)