United Nations investigators have found 17 new mass graves in the Democratic Republic of Congo , in an area that has seen fighting between soldiers and members of a local armed group, according to the UN rights chief.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, called the DRC's government to launch an investigation, threatening that the International Criminal Court would do so if authorities failed to take action.

Zeid said in a statement published by his office on Wednesday that he had reports that DRC soldiers had dug the graves after clashes with the Kamuina Nsapu militia in the central Kasai region in March.

"At least 74 people, including 30 children, were reported to have been killed by soldiers," in the clashes, he said, without giving details on the sources of his information.

During a separate incident in the provincial capital of Kananga last month, soldiers were reported to have shot dead at least 40 people and raped women and girls, Zeid said, again without saying who had made the reports.

Most of the victims were said to have been killed in their homes as soldiers went door to door looking for militia members, he added.

Fifteen of the newly confirmed sites are in the town of Tshimbulu, and two in Thsienke, a village near Kananga city.

The findings mean that the UN has now documented 40 mass grave sites and killings of more than 400 people in Kasai Central and Kasai Oriental provinces since last August.

"It is absolutely vital that the government ... takes meaningful steps to ensure that there is [an]... independent investigation," Zeid said.

"Should there be no effective national investigation, I will not hesitate to urge ... an investigation by an international mechanism, including the International Criminal Court."

Evidence first

The government of the DRC said it would investigate the reports once it saw the evidence.

Lambert Mende, the government spokesman, said the UN team should pass its evidence to the justice department.

"Then we will start investigations," he added.

The government has previously denied that soldiers have used disproportionate force against militia members, who are often armed with machetes and homemade rifles, and said that the militia had dug other mass graves.

Kasai is the focus of the fight against the Kamuina Nsapu militia since August, when security forces killed its leader. The militia has been fighting largely to avenge his death.

The violence has become the most serious threat to President Joseph Kabila, whose decision to stay in power after his mandate ran out in December has stoked lawlessness across the vast central African nation.

The government said last week that it had returned the body of the armed group's leader to his village, which had been one of the militia's key demands.

However, it was unclear whether this gesture would sooth tensions after such extensive killings.

The Kamwina Nsapu have been accused of recruiting child soldiers, and of attacking public authorities, schools and churches.



Hundreds of people have been killed and 200,000 displaced, according to the UN.</s>Raising alarm over increasing reports of serious human rights violations in the Kasai Central and Kasai Oriental provinces of Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations human rights chief underscored that the scale and nature of the allegations could warrant an investigation by an international mechanism, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC).

According the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), between 5 to 7 April, a team of UN human rights and police officials found 17 further mass graves in the Kasai Central province, which had been the location of clashes between security forces and the Kamuina Nsapu, a local militia.

“The discovery of yet more mass graves and the reports of continued violations and abuses highlight the horror that has been unfolding in the Kasais over the last nine months,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a news release, highlighting the need to monitor the situation closely.

“Should there be no effective national investigation, I will not hesitate to urge the international community to support an investigation by an international mechanism, including the International Criminal Court,” he added.

Fifteen of the recently discovered mass graves were in a cemetery in the town of Tshimbulu and two in the locality of Tshienke.

According to information received by the UN investigators, soldiers from the Forces armées de la Republique démocratique du Congo (FARDC) had reportedly dug the graves, after clashing with presumed elements of the Kamuina Nsapu between 26-28 March. At least 74 people, including 30 children, were reported to have been killed by soldiers as a result of these clashes.

The militia, loyal to a local customary chief who was killed in August last year, has been accused of a number of crimes and human rights abuses, including killings and abduction, recruitment of children, and targeting schools, hospitals and churches.

“It is absolutely vital that the Government takes meaningful steps, which to date have been lacking, to ensure that there is a prompt, transparent, and independent investigation to establish the facts and circumstances of alleged human rights violations and abuses perpetrated by all parties,” underscored the UN rights chief.

The UN team also visited Kananga, a town in Kasai Central, where between 28-30 March, FARDC soldiers were reported to have shot dead at least 40 people, including 11 children and 12 women, in the town’s Nganza commune, and injured at least 21 others. There are also allegations that at least two women and three girls had been raped by the soldiers during that operation.

The UN investigators were also informed of the killing of three individuals, including a 17-year-old boy and a one-month-old baby during search operations by the Police Nationale Congolaise.

Also in the statement, High Commissioner Zeid offered his Office’s assistance in conducting a credible investigation into the reports and allegations but underscored that it must be provided with unfettered access.

“We reiterate our request for access to all sites of mass graves, as well as to all witnesses, including those in detention, and other relevant information necessary to determine responsibility at all levels,” he added.</s>U.N. investigators have discovered 17 new mass grave sites in central Democratic Republic of Congo, bringing the total to 40 documented in an area where the army has clashed with a local militia, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Start the conversation, or Read more at US News & World Report.</s>DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Investigators have confirmed another 17 mass graves in central Congo, bringing the number to 40 discovered since clashes between soldiers and a local militia intensified in August, the United Nations human rights office said Wednesday, adding that Congolese soldiers reportedly killed at least 114 people, including 41 children.

The recent violence in once-calm Central Kasai province has included the killing of an American and a Swedish investigator for the U.N. last month, alarming the international community.

U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein warned Wednesday that if Congo’s government doesn’t investigate the violence effectively, he’ll urge that the International Criminal Court or another outside entity do it.

The new U.N. statement said Congolese soldiers reportedly dug the 17 newly discovered mass graves after fighting with suspected militia members in late March and killing at least 74 people, including 30 children.

Congolese soldiers also reportedly killed at least 40 people, including 11 children, in the capital of Central Kasai province, Kananga, late last month while going door-to-door looking for militia members, the U.N. said. The soldiers also reportedly buried an “unknown number of bodies” in a mass grave there.

In addition, at least two women and three girls reportedly were raped by soldiers, the statement said.

In a separate area of Kananga, the U.N. investigators were told that Congolese police had fatally trampled a one-month-old baby while searching a house.

“The discovery of yet more mass graves and the reports of continued violations and abuses highlight the horror that has been unfolding in the Kasais over the last nine months,” Zeid said. He said it is vital that Congo’s government take “meaningful steps, which to date have been lacking,” to investigate.

There was no immediate comment from Congolese authorities, who have promised to look into the killings of the two U.N. investigators and their interpreter and protect civilians from further violence.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced in the region since government troops killed the leader of the Kamwina Nsapu militia in August, according to the U.N.

Wednesday’s statement also blames militia members for some of the recent violence, including attacks on churches and government buildings, and it said the militia has been accused of recruiting hundreds of children as fighters.</s>The United Nations says investigators have confirmed another 17 mass graves in central Congo, bringing the number to 40 discovered since clashes between soldiers and a local militia intensified in August.

The U.N. on Wednesday said Congolese soldiers reportedly dug the graves after fighting with suspected militia members in late March and killing at least 74 people, including 30 children.

The U.N. says Congolese soldiers also reportedly killed at least 40 people, including 11 children, in the capital of Central Kasai province late last month while going door-to-door looking for militia members.

U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein says that if Congo's government doesn't investigate the recent violence effectively, he'll urge that the International Criminal Court or another outside entity investigate and prosecute the killings and reported rapes.</s>A UN team in the town of Tshimbulu in Kasai Central province, DRC, where 15 of the mass graves were found. Photo: MONUSCO/Biliaminou Alao 19 April 2017  Raising alarm over increasing reports of serious human rights violations in the Kasai Central and Kasai Oriental provinces of Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations human rights chief underscored that the scale and nature of the allegations could warrant an investigation by an international mechanism, such as the International Criminal Court .

Start the conversation, or Read more at United Nations.</s>UN investigators in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have confirmed the existence of at least 17 further mass graves in Kasai Central Province, which has been the scene of clashes between soldiers and members of a local militia known as Kamuina Nsapu. This brings to 40 the number of mass graves documented by the […]Source : http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric...</s>United Nations investigators have unearthed scores of mass graves in a conflict-plagued region of the Democratic Republic of Congo that top U.N. officials describe as a scene of “horror.”

The U.N. says the Congolese military dug the mass grave after killing over 100 people last month, a sign that the DRC’s violence and political turmoil will almost certainly get worse before it gets better.

On Wednesday, the U.N. announced that its investigators have confirmed the existence of 17 new mass graves sites in the DRC’s Kasai region, bring the tally up to 40 mass graves discovered in the past nine months. The most recent batch was unearthed after the Congolese military killed at least 114 people, including 41 children, in its campaign to uproot an insurgency by the Kamuina Nsapu militia.

Most civilians were reportedly killed in their homes as soldiers went door to door hunting militia members. The U.N. also recounted reports of government forces raping women and girls. The U.N. accused the Kamuina Nsapu militia of carrying out their own atrocities and forcibly recruiting hundreds of child soldiers into their ranks.

The discovery sheds new light on a deadly conflict in the Kasai region that has displaced hundreds of thousands and morphed into a serious threat to embattled DRC President Joseph Kabila’s grip on power. While the Kamuina Nsapu rebellion is rooted in local grievances, it quickly ignited a nationwide political powder keg as grievances pile up against Kabila. Kabila refused to step down after his constitutional term limit expired in December, prompting mass protests and political turmoil, while exacerbating the country’s dire economic situation.

“The discovery of yet more mass graves and the reports of continued violations and abuses highlight the horror that has been unfolding in the Kasais over the last nine months,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. If the national government isn’t serious about investigating the crimes, Hussein added, he would urge the International Criminal Court to take up the matter. The Congolese government denied any involvement in the mass graves, and instead blamed militias.

Since 1999, the U.N. has maintained a peacekeeping mission — MONUSCO — in the DRC. With some 22,000 personnel, it’s the U.N.’s largest. But given the sheer expanse of the country, it “has only minimal capacity to respond to civil unrest of widening conflict,” said Hans Hoebeke, a Congo expert with the International Crisis Group.

 

 The Kasai conflict garnered international attention last month after militias abducted and killed two U.N. experts, one American and one Swedish. Since the conflict first escalated in August, 2016, over 400 people have been killed.</s>The UN said Wednesday it had found a further 17 mass graves in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s central Kasai region, an area plagued by violence between tribal militias and security forces.

Fighting erupted in Kasai after government troops last August killed tribal chief Jean Pierre Mpandi, also known as Kamwina Nsapu, who had launched an uprising against President Joseph Kabila.

Wednesday’s announcement by UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein raises to 40 the number of mass graves discovered in Kasai.

Fifteen of the newly uncovered graves were in a cemetery in the town of Tshimbulu, with two others in the village of Tshienke, the rights office said in a statement.

The latest discoveries “highlight the horror” that has gripped the area over the last nine months, Zeid said.

Two United Nations researchers, who had been sent to investigate violence in the region, were found in a grave 16 days after they were abducted last month.

“It is absolutely vital that the government of the DRC takes meaningful steps, which to date have been lacking, to ensure that there is a prompt, transparent, and independent investigation to establish the facts and circumstances of alleged human rights violations and abuses,” Zeid said of the Kasai violence.

If the government does not take such action, Zeid said he would “not hesitate to urge the international community to support an investigation by an international mechanism, including the International Criminal Court”.

Authorities announced on April 14 that two suspects had been detained over the kidnap and killing of the two UN experts, an American and a dual Swedish-Chilean woman.

One of the suspects, however, escaped with the help of four police officers guarding them.

DR Congo security forces have been accused by the UN of using disproportionate force against militiamen, who are armed mainly with clubs and catapults.

However, the UN also accuses the rebels of recruiting child soldiers and of committing widespread atrocities.</s>DAKAR, April 19 (Reuters) - U.N. investigators have discovered 17 mass grave sites in central Democratic Republic of Congo, bringing the total to 40 documented in an area where the army has clashed with a local militia, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

The sites were reportedly dug by Congolese soldiers after fighting with the Kamuina Nsapu militia in Kasai Central province in late March, a U.N. statement said.

"At least 74 people, including 30 children, were reported to have been killed by soldiers as a result of these clashes," the statement said.

A government spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The government has previously denied that soldiers have used disproportionate force against militia members and said the militia had dug the graves.

The Kamuina Nsapu uprising has become the most serious threat to President Joseph Kabila, whose decision to stay in power after his mandate ran out in December stoked lawlessness in the vast central African nation.

More than 400 people have been killed in fighting in Kasai Central since last August, when Congolese forces killed the tribal militia's leader Kamuina Nsapu, escalating the conflict.
At least 17 new mass graves are discovered by United Nations investigators in Kasaï-Central, Democratic Republic of the Congo, mostly around the town of Tshimbulu.