Nearly 1,300 civilians have been killed in several separate conflicts involving armed groups and security forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the past eight months, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle said on Friday Bachelet. She added that some of the incidents involving massacres and other abuses and violations could constitute crimes against humanity or war crimes.
The number of victims has risen sharply in recent weeks as conflicts in three eastern provinces - Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu - have spread with disastrous repercussions for the civilian population. Armed groups committed atrocities and massacres, and the security forces have also been responsible for serious human rights violations in these provinces as well as in other parts of the country.
"I am dismayed by the increase in brutal attacks against innocent civilians by armed groups, and by the reaction of the military and police who have also committed serious violations, including murder and sexual violence. These are not only wrongdoings, but they also break the trust between the people and the civil and military authorities, "said Bachelet.
In Ituri province, violence has spread to new areas as the number of armed groups has increased. The main armed group remains CODECO, composed mainly of combatants from the Lendu community, which broke out after its main leader, Ngudjolo Duduko Justin, was killed on March 25.
As documented in the UN human rights report released on January 10, 2020 and updated on May 27, CODECO and other Lendu fighters are pursuing a strategy of massacres of local residents - mainly Hema, but also Alur - since 2017, in order to control the natural resources in the region. Other groups, including the Ndo Okebo, Nyali and Mambisa, have been affected by the violence more recently.
"So far, and to their credit, the targeted communities have refrained from responding," said Ms. Bachelet, who visited Ituri in January and met with mutilated and displaced people in brutal attacks from CODECO. "However, without protection by effective security and defense forces, there is a serious risk that communities will feel compelled to form self-defense groups, which would most likely exacerbate an already dire situation."
The attacks and the nature of violence committed by armed groups have become increasingly atrocious, characterized in particular by sexual violence, beheadings and mutilation of corpses. According to the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office in the DRC (BCNUDH), between October 1, 2019 and May 31, 2020, at least 531 civilians were killed by armed groups in Ituri, including 375 since March, when violence has increased. The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and the Congolese National Police (PNC) also reportedly killed 17 civilians during the same period.
In North Kivu, the launch of military operations by the security and defense forces in November 2019 gave rise to reprisals against the civilian population by the main armed group, the ADF, who killed on 31 May 2020 at least 514 civilians using machetes, axes and heavy weapons, abducted children and attacked schools and hospitals- (ADF combatants were also responsible for 77 civilian deaths in the neighboring Ituri). The defense and security forces were also heavily involved in the extrajudicial execution by the FARDC of 59 civilians and the PNC of 24 others. More than 400,000 people have been displaced in North Kivu.
FARDC operations have also allowed the ADFs to extend their influence into territories previously unaffected by the armed conflict. As in Ituri, there is a serious risk that Mai-Mai vigilantes will arise, with civilians once again caught in the middle.
"I call on the Congolese authorities to do everything in their power to establish state authority in these two conflict zones, including by deploying or expanding the presence of the security forces, and to ensure that they protect civilians rather than attack them, "said the High Commissioner. “The protection of civilians is the responsibility of the state and
when the state leaves a void, other actors tend to fill it. In the DRC, past experience shows that this can have catastrophic results. The widespread and systematic nature of some of the attacks against civilians in Ituri and North Kivu may constitute crimes against human beings humanity or war crimes, "she added.
In South Kivu, at least 74 people have been killed since October and at least 36 women and children raped in a resurgence of ethnic violence between the Banyamulenge communities and the Bafuliro, Babembe and Banyindu. More than 110,000 people, most of them women and children, have been displaced by the violence, which is fueled by hate speech on the media, social media and in public statements. FARDC soldiers have also been responsible for human rights violations, including the murder of at least 15 people and sexual violence against 13 women.
Serious violence and killings also took place in Kongo Central and Kinshasa where, between March 30 and April 24, at least 62 civilians were killed and 74 injured in seven operations by the PNC and FARDC against activists of the Bundu Dia Kongo politico-religious group (BDK).
BDK members organized demonstrations in violation of the law, barricaded roads, held hate speech, threatened to expel foreigners from Kongo Central, and allegedly physically attacked some of them. They also reacted violently against the security forces, killing one police officer and injuring nine others. However, the response of the security and defense forces has been clearly disproportionate, with the systematic use by police officers of live ammunition to disperse unarmed crowds. On April 22, in Songololo, Kongo Central, law enforcement officers attacked a house where 70 BDK supporters gathered, torched it, and fired and used machetes against those fleeing the fire. , killing 19 people, including a child. Two days later, in Kinshasa, police and the armed forces killed 31 other BDK supporters in an operation to arrest the group’s leader, Ne Muanda Nsemi.
"International standards on the use of force by the security forces * strike a clear balance between threat and response," said the High Commissioner. "Even during a state of emergency, the use of force must always be exceptional and based on the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality. The security forces should only use force when it is absolutely necessary, and lethal force can only be used when there is an imminent risk to life.
She stressed that the investigations which have been established must be credible, transparent and independent, recalling that the victims and their families have the right to justice, to the truth and to reparations and she urged the authorities to "take all measures necessary to prevent the recurrence of such serious violations. "
