"The Covid-19 crisis should not make us forget the atrocities that continue in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in indifference", warned on Tuesday May 19, gynecologist Denis Mukwege, price Nobel Peace Prize 2018.
"The massacres on the civilian populations" continue in Ituri and North Kivu, accuses the Congolese doctor in a press release.
More than 400 civilians have been massacred by the armed group of Ugandan origin ADF since November in North Kivu where new violence has been reported for several days.
To see >> Wars in the DRC: the ravages of impunity
At least five people were killed on Tuesday during an attackers' raid on Mayi Moya 40 km north of Beni, the territory's administrator and civil society told an AFP correspondent.
In total, "15 civilians were massacred in less than 48 hours by the ADF", according to the count, Tuesday, of the local NGO for the defense of human rights Cepadho.
Nearly 300 civilians massacred in 2020 in Ituri
Nearly 300 civilians have been massacred since the start of the year in Ituri, including around 20 on the night of May 16-17. Violence attributed to an ethno-mystical group, Codeco (Cooperative for the development of the Congo).
"In South Kivu, the Rwandan and Burundian armies are fighting in armed groups interposed in the highlands of Minembwe, destroying everything in their path," said Dr. Mukwege.
>> Read: DR Congo: 200,000 people have had to flee Ituri due to the violence
"And in Tanganyika, the Zambians who, until then, had maintained good neighborly relations with the DR Congo, like our neighbors to the east, have recently invaded our territory with incalculable consequences for our population ", he adds.
"The armed forces of the DRC are on the alert" on the border with Zambia where "the army is continuing the occupation of two localities" in Congolese territory, the Defense Minister said on Friday rendering of the Council of Ministers.
Doctor Mukwege wants "an international criminal tribunal for the DRC"
"Faced with Covid-19, the government has shown that it can demonstrate political will," said Dr Mukwege, himself responsible for the care teams in his province of South Kivu.
"It is urgent for our authorities to also demonstrate a real political will to put an end to the insecurity in the east of the DRC", he enjoins.
He pleads for "the establishment of an international criminal tribunal for the DRC" and a "profound reform of the security and justice sectors", solutions against impunity contained, according to him, in a UN report dating from 'ten years ago.
#Ituri: new massacre.
The free world, born after 1945 should be ashamed of the massacres that have been committed in #RDC for more than 2 decades. Criminals are known and protected. The #RAPPORTMAPPING must be dug up to end this scandal. @UNHumanRights @UN @CIJ_ICJ
Dozens of armed groups are active in eastern DRC, small local militias and large very armed and very deadly structures (Codeco in Ituri, ADF and FDLR in North Kivu).
Eleven armed groups active in the territory of Lubero (North Kivu) said on Monday in a statement "the immediate cessation of hostilities in all areas under our control".
With AFP
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