A video has circulated on social media showing Kinyarwanda-speaking armed men shooting at dozens of cows at close range, and killing them.

It has emerged that the video, shared on platforms like Twitter since at least May 7, was taken in eastern DR Congo and the armed militiamen are the fighters of the genocidal FDLR group and some other militias.

It is understood that the cows belonged to Congolese Tutsi herdsmen.

According to the spokesperson of the M23 rebel group, Lawrence Kanyuka, 200 cows were killed on the Kalengera-Tongo road on May 2 at around 11:30 am.

More than 150 other cows were left with wounds.

COMMUNIQUÉ OFFICIEL DU MOUVEMENT DU 23 MARS DU 4 MAI 2023. VERSION FRANÇAISE & ANGLAISE pic.twitter.com/U2aGvgYgar-- Lawrence KANYUKA (@LawrenceKanyuka) May 4, 2023

Kanyuka said the government coalition, composed of militias like the FDLR, Nyatura, CODECO and Mai Mai, was responsible for killing the cattle.

"In addition to killing people, FDLR and other illegal militia in eastern DRC are now shooting cows in broad daylight," Rwanda government spokesperson, Yolande Makolo, tweeted on Tuesday.

"This is about destroying livelihoods of pastoral communities and spreading terror. They need to be held accountable for these crimes."

Congolese Tutsi communities in eastern DR Congo have been targets of ethnic violence at the hands of the FDLR and the Mai Mai militia. This targeted violence against communities like the Banyamulenge and their cattle has been documented by the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention, which first warned of genocidal violence in October 2022.

On May 4, Kanyuka said the Congolese government army also killed 17 people in Kizimba, in Masisi territory, on May 3.

The UN summit on DR Congo held in Burundi on May 6 called for an independent investigation into the Kizimba massacres.