A particularly violent video showing a man burning alive has been shared for several days on social networks. The accounts that share this video, notably on
The footage, which we will not share, shows a man filmed up close sitting on the ground, flames devouring his upper body. Several people appear to be watching the scene, a few meters behind. The video, which lasts a few seconds, contains few elements that could make it possible to precisely determine its origin and the place where it was filmed.
It has been shared several hundred times, by French-speaking accounts but also in English-language publications, which share the same explanations indicating: “While the African and Western media fail to cover the atrocities occurring there, we must take it upon ourselves and share their story.”
A video that is not recent.
A reverse image search can find traces of the video, which show that it is not recent. The video can be found on several sites that share gory and violent content, the oldest occurrence of which it was possible to identify dates back to December 2022.
The caption of the video includes a different version than that of the publications currently circulating on the context of these images. The title of the video indicates that it is a man “accused of being a Rwandan spy”, burned alive in the city of Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The website does not provide additional details. It was not possible to determine the exact context of this video.
Nearly 7 million refugees fleeing clashes in the DRC.
At the beginning of October, the Democratic Republic of Congo was the scene of renewed violence in the east of the country, where the M23 rebellion, the DRC army (FARDC) and local armed groups clashed.
The M23, for March 23 Movement, is a movement from soldiers of the Congolese army, mainly Tutsis, who rebelled against the government in 2012, who took up arms again at the end of 2021. For the UN as well as NGOs like Human Rights Watchthe M23 is supported by the Rwandan army.
Since October 2023, clashes north of Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, have caused the displacement of nearly 7 million people towards the interior of the country. The International Organization for Migration recently indicated that “the DRC is facing one of the largest internal displacement and humanitarian crises in the world.”