Nairobi/New York - The United Nations Security Council
should condemn war crimes committed by UN-backed Congolese soldiers
as a delegation visits the Central African nation Tuesday, Human
Rights Watch said.
'The Congolese army is responsible for widespread and vicious
abuses against its own people that amount to war crimes,' said Anneke
Van Woudenberg, senior researcher in the Africa division at the
rights group.
'During their visit to [the Democratic Republic of] Congo,
Security Council members should tell President Joseph Kabila that UN
peacekeepers cannot support military operations in which war crimes
are being committed,' she added.
Rwandan and Congolese troops joined forces in January to target
the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, an armed group
created by Hutu militia members who took part in Rwanda's 1994
genocide.
The subsequent fighting saw around 250,000 people displaced in
eastern DR Congo, as many as during heavy fighting between government
troops and Tutsi rebels late last year.
Hundreds of civilians were killed in reprisal attacks by the Hutu
forces.
While Rwanda has now left, the United Nations peacekeeping force
is backing the ongoing Congolese army offensive against the Hutu
militia.
However, according to Human Rights Watch, Congolese government
troops have repeatedly abused civilians, sometimes even in the
presence of UN peacekeepers, during the operations.
The rights group said government troops have attacked villages,
looted homes and killed at least 19 civilians in North Kivu province,
including women and the elderly, since the offensive began.
In addition, 143 women and girls have been raped, more than half
of all documented cases, by government soldiers in the same period,
Human Rights Watch said.
'They came at night when I was asleep,' one 40-year-old woman told
the rights group. 'Four soldiers then started to rape me, one after
the other, while three other soldiers looted all the goods in our
house.'
'I was four months pregnant, but lots of blood started to flow
while they were raping me, and I've now lost the baby,' she added.
According to Human Rights Watch, UN peacekeepers have tried in
vain to minimize the abuses, at one point even firing over the heads
of army soldiers.
The rights group also demanded that the Security Council force the
removal from military duty of Bosco Ntaganda, a former Tutsi rebel
indicted by the International Criminal Court who is now working with
the Congolese army.
UN peacekeepers earlier vowed they would not work with Ntaganda,
but allegations have surfaced recently that he has been advising on
operations that the UN team is involved in.
The peacekeeping mission denied those claims.
The UN mission in DR Congo 'and the Security Council cannot turn a
blind eye when known human rights abusers are in senior positions in
military operations they support,' Van Woudenberg said. 'If the
council fails to act, it too will be complicit in putting civilians
at risk.'
A 15-member delegation from the Security Council is on a
four-nation tour of Africa to discuss UN activities. It is visiting
Ethiopia, DR Congo, Rwanda and Liberia.
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