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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: MONUC probing killing of 16 in Ndunda, South Kivu Province

NAIROBI, 13 October 2003 (IRIN) - The UN has launched an investigation to find those responsible for the killing of 16 civilians, primarily women, during an attack on 6 October on the village of Ndunda, 30 km north of the town of Uvira, South Kivu Province, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The UN Mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, reported on Friday that witnesses said the victims were killed with axes, machetes, clubs, knives and other crude weapons. MONUC said that two survivors were being treated at Uvira Hospital, while four others remained missing.

Witnesses told MONUC that the killings were carried out by a group of 20 who spoke Kirundi, the national language of neighbouring Burundi. The witnesses said that some of the assailants were wearing Burundian military uniforms, while others were wearing sports clothing. Some of the witnesses told MONUC that they believed the attackers belonged to Burundi’s Forces pour la defense de la democratie, the armed wing of the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie rebel group, reported to be active in the area. The faction of another Burundian rebel group, the Forces nationales de liberation, however, is also reported to operate in the area.

"MONUC strongly condemns this hateful act and reaffirms the commitment of the international community to bring an end to impunity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," the UN mission said in a statement.

It reminded the transitional government of Burundi of the urgency to put in place a programme for the disarmament, demobilisation, repatriation, reinsertion, and reinstallation of Burundian combatants in the DRC.

MONUC said that until the Burundian government was ready to receive former combatants, progress in the DDRRR programme for the DRC would be impeded.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

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