Væbnede grupper har fra april til september gennemført 75 angreb på landsbyer og vilkårligt dræbt mange hundrede. Ofrene var mest ældre og børn, som ikke kunne flygte, hedder det i ny FN-rapport om menneskeretsituationen i North Kivu provinsen.
GENEVA, 14 November 2012: A UN investigation into the human rights situation in southern Masisi in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has revealed that at least 264 civilians, including 83 children, were arbitrarily executed by armed groups in more than 75 attacks on villages between April and September this year.
The report published on Wednesday details the result of six investigative missions and more than 160 interviews with victims and witnesses by the UN Joint Human Rights Office in the DRC (UNJHRO).
Investigators found that the victims were often those least able to flee the attacks, largely children and the elderly. Due to security constraints, the investigators were not in a position to confirm many more human rights violations that were reported to them, meaning the actual number of victims could be considerably higher. The figures noted in the report reflect cases documented in only some parts of Masisi over a relatively limited period of time and are thus far from presenting a comprehensive overview of the human rights situation throughout Eastern DRC.
Investigators found that the Raia Mutomboki armed group, with allied Mayi Mayi groups, was responsible for most of the killings, which were often perpetrated with extreme violence. Many victims were hacked to death with machetes while others were burnt alive in their homes. The opposing Nyatura group was found to be responsible for other human rights violations, including killings, sometimes carried out in collaboration with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). The civilians killed by the Raia Mutomboki group were mostly ethnic Hutu, while those killed by the Nyatura were mainly of Tembo ethnicity.
Other human rights violations outlined in the report include mass forced displacement and large-scale looting and destruction of private property. Investigators also confirmed four cases of sexual violence involving the rape of 12 women.
“The systematic human rights violations committed by these armed groups, including the slaughter of so many children, are the most serious we have seen in recent times in the DRC,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said. “The Congolese authorities must take immediate measures to protect civilian populations and to combat the persistent impunity which only serves to embolden the killers.”
Læs hele nyheden her: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/media.aspx?IsMediaPage=true
Læs here rapporten her: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/ZR/UNJHRO_HRVMasisi_en.pdf
