DRC: at least 131 civilians killed in Kishishe and Bambo, according to a preliminary investigation by Monusco
A camp for displaced people in Rutshuru, due to fighting against the M23, in North Kivu, DRC, October 2022 (illustration image).
© RFI/Paulina Zidi
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The Congolese government had mentioned Monday the figure of 272 people killed on November 29 in two localities of Rutshuru, in North Kivu, in the east of the DRC, where the M23 has been leading an offensive for several months.
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With our special correspondent in Kinshasa,
Paulina Zidi
According
to the results of a preliminary investigation
, the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) and Monusco have identified at least 131 civilian victims, including 102 men, 17 women and twelve children, killed "
in during acts of reprisals against the civilian populations perpetrated on November 29 and 30, in Kishishe and Bambo
".
Summary executions
The UN refers to summary executions by bullets or stabbing.
The report also mentions more than twenty rapes of women, but also of young girls.
The United Nations finally explains that the area is currently controlled by the M23 and that its team has not been able to go directly to the scene.
It is in a Monusco base, about twenty kilometers from Kishishe, that the UN personnel were able to question survivors, direct witnesses of the events, according to the press release.
A balance sheet that could change
The investigators expressed their wish to go to the area as soon as possible to continue the investigations and they added that the results of the preliminary investigation could still change.
Monday, December 5, the Congolese authorities had mentioned
a death toll of 272
.
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