Ekip
17 June 2017•Update: 18 June 2017
By Godfrey Olukya
ARU, Democratic Republic of Congo
Human rights grievances are fueling a “desperate and dangerous” situation in the Congo, Amnesty International warned Friday.
The group’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes, Sarah Jackson, said the announcement was needed following an urgent appeal Thursday by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and nine former African heads of state who raised concerns about the future of the African nation.
“The Congo is a powder-keg of human rights grievances that frequently spill over into violence. Instead of taking concrete steps to ease tensions, the government has chosen to focus its efforts on quashing dissenting voices, killings and imprisoning dozens of protesters in the process,” Jackson said in a statement.
The international community, and African leaders in particular, cannot afford to continue to ignore the situation, she added.
Clashes in the Kasai region between Kamuina Nsapu militiamen and security organizations in the Kasai region has led to more than 500 deaths and displaced more than 1 million people.
Hundreds of extrajudicial executions and other human rights violations committed by the armedforces have gone without investigations.
