The UN human rights chief has accused M23 rebels, who seized a second major city in eastern DR Congo, of killing children and attacking hospitals and warehouses storing humanitarian aid.
Volker Türk said in a statement on Tuesday that his office “confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week. We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons.”
He provided no details or did not refer to specific events, but UN agencies have previously accused both Congolese government forces and the rebels of recruiting children.
The United Nations Human Rights Council earlier this month launched a commission that will investigate atrocities, including rapes and killings akin to “summary executions” committed by both sides since the beginning of the year.
Several killed in Goma
The M23 rebels on Sunday captured Bukavu, the city of 1.3 million people, after seizing Goma, 101 kilometres (63 miles) to the north last month. At least 3,000 were reported killed and thousands displaced in the Goma fighting.
M23 is the most prominent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control of eastern DR Congo’s trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that’s critical for much of the world’s technology.
The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighbouring Rwanda, according to UN experts.
Rwanda accuses DR Congo of enlisting Hutu fighters responsible for the 1994 genocide of minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. M23 says it's fighting to protect Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan origin from discrimination and wants to transform DR Congo from a failed into a modern state — though critics say it's a pretext for Rwanda's involvement.
Political power
Unlike in 2012, when the M23 briefly seized Goma and withdrew after international pressure, analysts have said the rebels this time are eyeing political power.
The decades-long fighting has displaced more than six million people in the region, creating the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
On Tuesday, the rebel-appointed governor of North Kivu province, where Goma is located, announced the reopening of a ferry route between Goma and Bukavu. A statement released by Governor Buhati Musanga said two ferries left Bukavu for Goma on the northern tip of Lake Kivu early Tuesday. The route is currently the only safe way to travel between the two cities.
“Knowing that the sea route is open again has made me happy, and those who stayed behind are just as happy," Faustin Dunia, a passenger on the reopened ferry, said.
Relief
Other passengers expressed relief that they were able to return to Goma and that the capture of Bukavu was relatively peaceful.
Meanwhile, Ugandan troops entered the northeastern Congolese city of Bunia to assist the Congolese army in quelling deadly violence by armed ethnic groups, a Ugandan military spokesperson said.
Besides Rwanda, Uganda also has periodically sent troops into DR Congo but in agreement with the central government in Kinshasa.
➤ Click here to follow our WhatsApp channel for more stories.
