U.N. REPORT ON DR CONGO-KILLINGS MAY BE GENOCIDE

By Elly On
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

DR Congo-A UN report on killings of civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1994 has shed a new view on genocide. The report accuses Rwandan and Ugandan forces of participating in atrocious genocide of innocent civilians in DR Congo. Most of the civilians were children, women, elders, and the sick who were undernourished and posed no threat to the attacking forces.

In 1994, more than 800,000 people, mostly the ethnic Tutsi group members in Rwanda, were killed by the Hutu. A Tutsi-led government seized control over Rwanda and the Hutu military fled with Hutu civilians to Congo (known as Zaire at the time).  With the help of a Congolese rebel force, Rwanda invaded Congo to pursue the Hutu militias.

The 545-page UN report on the atrocities that took place during the war details 600 of the most serious reported atrocities. Then, it poses the question–whether Rwanda could be found guilty of genocide against the Hutu. The 600 atrocities include incidents and allegations of massacres of civilians, torture, and the destruction of infrastructures that led to deaths of civilians. Most of the victims were children, women, elderly people and the sick.

In response to the report, Uganda and Rwanda denied such allegations and called the report dangerous and deeply flawed. Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda, threatened to withdraw its peacekeepers from the joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan’s Darfur region in response to the report. Uganda, also accused of atrocities, described the draft report as “deeply flawed” and had threatened to pull out of peacekeeping missions, such as Somalia.

 DR Congo’s permanent representative at the UN demands justice and that their voices be heard by his government and the international community.

For more information, please see:
BBC News–UN Report says DR Congo killings may be genocide–1 October 2010
The New York Times–U.N. Congo Report Offers New View on Genoice–27 August 2010
Yahoo News–UN tones down Congo ‘genocide’ report–30 September 2010

Author: Impunity Watch Archive