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A Un
ited Nations investigation has confirmed reports of serious
human rights abuses perpetrated by soldiers and armed groups
operating in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of
the Congo (DRC), the UN mission in the country said
yesterday.
According to the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC),
corroborating testimonies reveal "systematic looting and rape" as
well as summary executions and abductions used as weapons of war by
soldiers of the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) and the
Congolese Rally for Democracy/National (RCD-N) during their
occupation of Mambasa territory in the latter part of last
year.
The UN team, dispatched late last month to follow up on reports of
human rights abuses, interviewed 368 people - victims and witnesses
alike - during two weeks spent in Mangina and Oicha villages, where
tens of thousands of displaced people found refuge.
Along with the abuses confirmed in those villages and others on the
main road between Mambasa and Mangina, the investigators also
verified that among the people executed, mutilated and cannibalized
by the MLC and RCD-N military forces, there were members of the
Pygmies' community forced to leave the forest. The UN continues to
receive testimonies from the thousands displaced in Oicha and
Butembo.
The exact number of the victims has so far not been
determined.
The investigation team's preliminary report was presented to the UN
Security Council in New York and to the High Commissioner for Human
Rights in Geneva - UN News.
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