The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced Thursday it would open a preliminary examination into alleged war crimes in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The government of the DRC previously made a formal request to the tribunal to examine activities of particular armed forces and groups in the region. Prosecutor Karim Khan will assess whether the referral provides enough evidence to mount an investigation.

The ICC first opened an investigation into war crimes in the region in 2004. The Office of the Prosecutor described reports of thousands of deaths by mass murder, summary execution and a pattern of rape, torture and forced displacement and the illegal use of child soldiers—all war crimes. The 2004 investigation led to three convictions of rebel leaders involved in the long-running conflict in the DRC.

Armed conflict has simmered for three decades across the DRC, predominately brought about by the resurgence of the rebel group M23 who captured large amounts of territories in 2021. Two years on, and despite the deployment of UN peacekeepers, the situation in the region remains volatile. Just this past week, local militia groups attacked and killed 40 residents of an internally displaced person’s camp in northeast DRC.

Currently, there are approximately 6.1 million internally displaced people within the eastern portion of the country. UN activities in the DRC amount to one of the largest peacekeeping missions in the world at the moment.

Both Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International have been highly critical of the rebel group M23, arguing they have committed apparent war crimes. A Tuesday report from HRW documented 8 unlawful killings and 14 cases of rape by fighters attached to M23. They also suggested that the group appears to be responsible for mass graves recently found in the eastern region of the DRC. The graves are believed to be the bodies of villagers and captured militia members by M23 fighters. HRW has continually argued for a comprehensive, international investigation in the face of “mounting evidence” of human rights violations.