UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: MLC asks rights group to investigate allegations of cannibalism

NAIROBI, 20 January 2003 (IRIN) - A rebel group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has called on a rights advocacy group, Human Rights Watch, to conduct an investigation into alleged acts of cannibalism conducted by its members in the northeast of the country.

In a statement released on Monday, the Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) denied the allegations, which it said had been made to discredit the movement’s leader, Jean-Pierre Bemba.

"The MLC invites Human Rights Watch, which is an neutral and independent instrument to go to the area as soon as possible to conduct its own investigations," the MLC said.

It added that it favoured the idea of an international criminal tribunal to investigate those accused of genocide and other violations committed in Ituri District and the rest of the country since 1996.

Themes: (IRIN) Human Rights

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