26 June 2018•Update: 02 July 2018
By Fatih Erel
GENEVA
The Congolese defense and security forces as well as militias deliberately killed civilians, including children, and committed crimes against humanity and war crimes, UN human rights investigators said on Tuesday.
"Following its investigation in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Team of International Experts appointed by the Human Rights Council today said it believes a number of the violations perpetrated by the defense and security forces, the Kamuina Nsapu militia and the Bana Mura militias since 2016 constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes," UN investigators said in a statement.
"The Congolese defense and security forces, as well as the Kamuina Nsapu militia and the Bana Mura militias deliberately killed civilians, including children, and committed atrocities – such as mutilations, rapes and other forms of sexual violence, torture, and exterminations," the UN experts said.
Noting that the Kamuina Nsapu militia also recruited children, girls and boys, the experts said the attacks were carried out against civilians of several ethnic groups in a generalized and systematic fashion constituting crimes against humanity.
According to the UN experts, some of the abuses committed could also amount to persecution based on ethnicity. The crimes and destruction continue to take place two years after the conflict began, resulting in the displacement of people, and the enslavement of women.
According to UN, Kasai crisis has led to the internal displacement of some 1.4 million people who remain in a very precarious situation, another 35,000 people have fled to Angola, about 3.2 million people continue to be severely food insecure, and malnutrition rates, especially for children, are high.
