UN: Government troops "killed scores of civilians" in DR Congo

Oct 15, 2009, 16:10 GMT

Geneva - Government troops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have killed 'scores of civilians' in the eastern part of the country this year, a United Nations special investigator said Thursday.

In a statement, Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, who was completing an 11-day trip to the African country, said sexual violence was also ongoing.

'Congolese soldiers shot and beat to death at least 50 Rwandan Hutu refugees, and burnt their camp to the ground in an attack in April 2009,' Alston wrote.

'Some 40 women were abducted from the camp,' he added, going on to describe in graphic details rapes and mutilation, based on the testimonies of 10 women.

'An immediate, independent, and thorough investigation into these killings is essential,' he said, adding that other incidents were also being brought to light.

The killings occurred in the context of an ongoing joint mission of the UN military operation and the Congolese army to root out the FDLR, an armed group composed partly of Rwandan fighters, Alston said.

'But the joint operation has been so poorly carried out that the FDLR has easily been able to re-enter villages abandoned by the Congolese and UN forces and commit brutal retaliation massacres of civilians.'

Alston warned that the country was 'ripe' for a resurgence of brutal political violence.

'Alarm bells are ringing loudly in the DRC,' Alston said.

A 'repressive state apparatus' in some areas prevented the UN expert from meeting with witnesses and victims, the statement said.