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Group: Congo military killed hundreds of civilians
A top human rights group is accusing the Congolese military of killing more than 500 civilians in eastern Congo and says the U.N. peacekeeping force in the area did nothing to stop the soldiers from decapitating men and raping young girls.
The Human Rights Watch report came a day after the U.N. peacekeeping force, known by its French acronym MONUC, said it was suspending military aid to an army unit implicated in the deaths of 62 civilians between May and September.
Human Rights Watch said the U.N. peacekeeping force should immediately suspend its aid to the entire operation.
"Some Congolese army soldiers are committing war crimes by viciously targeting the very people they should be protecting," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. "MONUC's continued willingness to provide support for such abusive military operations implicates them in violations of the laws of war."
The report, released Monday, was based on HRW fact-finding missions to the region and said that soldiers in eastern Congo had deliberately killed at least 505 civilians between March and September. It said another 198 civilians were killed earlier this year during a joint Congolese-Rwandan military operation.