DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The Rwanda-backed rebel group M23 has denied involvement in a series of massacres in eastern Congo which were detailed in a report published by a rights group Wednesday.
Lawrence Kanyuka, spokesperson for the M23 military, called the Human Rights Watch report “fake and a falsification of reality” and accused the group of spreading “extremist propaganda” in a statement late Wednesday.
M23 is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups fighting for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east.
Both M23 and the Congolese military have previously been accused of violence against civilians. Earlier this year, Congolese authorities accused M23 of extrajudicial killings during its seizure of major cities.
In the report, Human Rights Watch accused M23 of killing over 140 civilians as part of a military campaign against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group made up mostly of ethnic Hutu fighters.
Nearly 2 million Hutus from Rwanda fled to Congo after the 1994 Rwandan genocide that killed 800,000 Tutsis, moderate Hutus and others. Rwandan authorities have accused Hutus who fled of participating in the genocide, alleging that the Congolese army protected them.
Bertrand Bisimwa, an M23 leader, said on social platform X that the report was intended to influence the United Nations Security Council and was not based on evidence.
A separate report by another rights group, Amnesty International, also published Wednesday, found that both M23 and Congolese government-sponsored militias regularly committed mass atrocities and sexual violence against civilians.
With 7 million people displaced in Congo, the U.N. has called the conflict in eastern Congo “one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth.”
The United States and others have been trying to achieve a permanent ceasefire since fighting between M23 and Congolese forces escalated in January.
The Congolese and Rwandan foreign ministers signed a peace deal at the White House in July. But M23 was not directly involved in the negotiations and said it could not abide by the terms of the agreement.
The final step was meant to be a separate deal between Congo and M23, facilitated by the Gulf state of Qatar, that would bring about a permanent ceasefire. However, a deadline for the deal was missed and there have been no public signs of major talks between Congo and M23 on the final terms.
The U.S. Bureau of African affairs, in a statement late Wednesday on X, called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the “horrific abuses perpetrated against civilians, including by M23.”
FILE - Former members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and police officers who allegedly surrendered to M23 rebels arrive in Goma, Congo, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, file)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Police in Ohio's capital city said Wednesday that they have gathered enough evidence to link a man charged in the double homicide of his ex-wife and her husband in their Columbus home last month to the killings.
Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said in an Associated Press interview that authorities now believe Michael David McKee, 39, a vascular surgeon who was living in Chicago, was the person seen walking down a dark alley near Monique and Spencer Tepe's home in video footage from the night of the murders. His vehicle has also been identified traveling near the house, and a firearm found in his Illinois residence also traced to evidence at the scene, she said.
An attorney representing McKee could not be identified through court listings.
His arrest Saturday capped off nearly two weeks of speculation surrounding the mysterious killings that attracted national attention. No obvious signs of forced entry were found at the Tepes’ home. Police also said no weapon was found there, and murder-suicide was not suspected. Further, nothing was stolen, and the couple’s two young children and their dog were left unharmed in the home.
“What we can tell you is that we have evidence linking the vehicle that he was driving to the crime scene. We also have evidence of him coming and going in that particular vehicle,” Bryant told the AP. “What I can also share with you is that there were multiple firearms taken from the property of McKee, and one of those firearms did match preliminarily from a NIBIN (ballistic) hit back to this actual homicide.”
Bryant said that the department wants the public to keep the tips coming. Investigators were able to follow up on every phone call, email and private tip shared from the community to the department and some of that information allowed them to gather enough evidence to make an arrest, she said.
That work culminated in the apprehension of McKee in Rockford, Illinois, where the hospital where he worked — OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center — has said it is cooperating with the investigation. He has been charged with premeditated aggravated murder in the shooting deaths. Monique Tepe, who divorced McKee in 2017, was 39. Her husband, a dentist whose absence from work that morning prompted the first call to police, was 37.
McKee waived his right to an extradition hearing on Monday during an appearance in the 17th Judicial Circuit Court in Winnebago County, Illinois, where he remains in jail. Bryant said officials are working out details of his return to Ohio, with no exact arrival date set. His next hearing in Winnebago County is scheduled for Jan. 23.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said Wednesday that the city doesn't prioritize high-profile cases any more than others, noting that the city's closure rate on criminal cases exceeds the national average. The city also celebrated in 2025 its lowest level of homicides and violent crime since 2007, Ginther said.
“Every case matters. Ones that receive national attention, and those that don’t,” he told the AP. “Every family deserves closure and for folks to be held accountable, and the rest of the community deserves to be safe when dangerous people are taken off the street.”
Ginther said it is vital for central Ohioans to continue to grieve with the Tepes' family, which includes two young children, and loved ones, as they cope with “such an unimaginable loss.”
“I want our community to wrap our arms around this family and these children for years to come,” he said.
This undated booking photo provided by the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, shows Michael David McKee, who was charged in the killing of his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, and her husband Spencer Tepe at their Columbus, Ohio, home on Dec. 30, 2025. (Winnebago County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Spencer and Monique Tepe's home in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)
This image taken from video shows Michael David McKee walking into the courtroom on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Rockford, Ill. (WIFR News/Pool Photo via AP)
