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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: At least 55 killed in Kashele, Ituri District

NAIROBI, 7 October 2003 (IRIN) - At least 55 people, most of them women and children, were killed in the Kashele area of Ituri District, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, known as MONUC, reported on Monday.

MONUC said it had dispatched a verification mission on Tuesday to establish the circumstances of the killing and identify the culprits so that they could be brought before justice.

"This was a hateful crime that runs counter to the process of reconciliation that has begun in Bunia, and which MONUC seeks to extend throughout the rest of Ituri District, with the full cooperation of the Ituri Interim Administration and the members of the consultation committee of armed groups," MONUC said from its headquarters in the national capital, Kinshasa.

It said it would use "all means necessary" to ensure that such crimes would not go unpunished. Acting under a Chapter Seven mandate of the UN Charter, MONUC is authorised to take the necessary action "to maintain or restore international peace and security".

Kashele is 15 km southeast of Bule, which is about 60 km northeast of Bunia, the main town of Ituri.

At least 50,000 people have died and 500,000 have been displaced in Ituri since the most recent war in the country erupted in August 1998.

In July, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said it would make investigation of crimes against humanity in Ituri one of its first priorities. [See earlier IRIN story, "International Criminal Court targets Ituri"]

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

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