UP TO 4,000 Rwandan government forces are deployed in neighbouring eastern Congo operating alongside the M23 rebel group, UN experts said in a new 293-page report published on Wednesday.

The report to the UN security council called the estimate of Rwandan troops “conservative,” said their “systematic support and presence” supporting M23 in its territorial conquest is a sanctionable act, and that their deployment is a violation of Congo’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Rwandan forces’ “de facto control and direction over M23 operations also renders Rwanda liable for the actions of M23,” the report said.