UN inquiry warns of killings, sexual attacks in DR Congo

A United Nations rights inquiry said Monday that civilians had reported unlawful killings and sexual violence in a surge of unrest in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The eastern DRC has been ravaged by three decades of conflict and the army is currently battling the Rwandan-backed M23 group in the North and South Kivu provinces which have also been hit by an Ebola outbreak.

Civilians “have described an exceptionally grave human rights crisis marked by allegations of sexual violence and unlawful killings”, the UN independent commission on human rights in the two provinces said in a statement to the UN Human Rights Council.

It said that “deteriorating security” had left the population “vulnerable and unprotected”.

“We have received deeply troubling accounts concerning children, conflict-related sexual violence, including sexual slavery, forced recruitment, unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests, and attacks against schools and health facilities,” said the commission head Arnauld Akodjenou.

The commission, set up by the human rights council, said it had met witnesses and officials in Kinshasa and hoped to go to Goma in the conflict zone when security improves.

The commission said its investigation was still at a preliminary stage and could not “make findings on the nature or scope of violations” or “draw final conclusions”.