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UN report on attacks in DR Congo last July implicates Rwandan militia

3 February 2006 – The United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC), reporting on its investigation into an attack on a South Kivu village last July, says eyewitnesses identified their assailants as Rwandan militiamen who had previously victimized other villages, claiming the lives of dozens of people in their strikes.

Transmitting the mission’s report to the Security Council, Secretary-General Kofi Annan voices “grave concern about the continuing human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.” He also calls for an end to the culture of impunity there and urges that the perpetrators of these crimes be brought to justice.

On 9 July 2005, about 30 well-armed Rwandans, who came from an area near Kahuzi-Biega National Park and about 20 kilometres north-west of Bukavu, attacked the village of Kabingu, in Kalonge community, approximately 60 kilometres north-west of Bukavu, the report quotes eyewitnesses as saying.

Based on the testimony MONUC gathered from more than 60 interviews with eyewitnesses, community leaders, police officers and soldiers, the group killed 50 civilians, either by burning them alive in their homes or slashing them with machetes, raped 11 women, and looted a wide area.

Soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), deployed in the hills overlooking Kabingu village, said they fled when the militiamen arrived. Two FARDC soldiers told the MONUC team that their unit did not defend the village because they feared militia Commander Kyombé.

The militiamen previously raided Kalonge community several times in June and July, MONUC said. The local FARDC Commander said his troops were poorly equipped and too few in number to guarantee the security of Kalonge’s population.

On 23 May 2005, the local sources said, the same group murdered 14 people in Nindja village, Kabare territory, MONUC said.

The witnesses suggested that the attack on Kabingu may have been a reprisal against the population for having collaborated with FARDC and MONUC. On 5 July 2005, FARDC troops, guided by some local villagers, were able to track down the militiamen in Kahuzi-Biega National Park, capture several of them and retrieve some of the looted items.

Over 10,000 civilians were displaced following the attacks on Kalonge, MONUC said.

Humanitarian assistance was delivered to the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in several villages and many of the wounded received medical treatment at nearby health centres.

Kabingu residents have requested assistance in rebuilding their dwellings, the mission said.