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UN Calls for International Probe Into Recent DRC Killings

By VOA News June 20, 2017

The United Nations human rights chief has called for an international investigation into recent murders in the central part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and partially blamed Congo's government for failing to stop the killings.

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein told the U.N. Human Rights Council Tuesday hundreds of villagers had been "shot dead, hacked or burned to death, and mutilated" over the past two months.

At times, Zeid said, the militia carrying out the killings had been directed by "state agents" from the Congolese military and police.

"I am appalled by the creation and arming of a militia, the Bana Mura, allegedly to support the authorities in fighting the Kamwina Nsapu (rebels), but which has carried out horrific attacks against civilians from the Luba and Lulua ethnic groups," he said.

The Human Rights Council is expected to vote this week on a proposal to authorize an independent investigation into the violence in Congo's Kasai region, including the murder of two U.N. experts earlier this year.

Congolese Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba rejected the call for an international investigation, saying it would be unacceptable to launch such an investigation without including Congolese officials.

"That would be a pity, for the simple reason that if a resolution is voted for and doesn't take us into account, implementing it will be difficult," he told reporters in Geneva. "Do you want experts to go into a foreign country without reporting to the national authorities?"

He said Congo had been working with the U.N. to map out a plan for the investigation, and it submitted that plan to the U.N. in late May. Zeid said the Congolese response was insufficient.