KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — 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.
"If it's true that people were killed, the investigation will determine that," government spokesman Lambert Mende said Tuesday. "One has seen in the past how Human Rights Watch exaggerated."
In New York, United Nations spokeswoman Michele Montas told reporters at U.N. headquarters on Tuesday that the Congolese Armed Forces command and MONUC are launching an immediate investigation to determine who is responsible and to take the necessary action. "We condemn these killings and all killing and abuse of civilians, whether by the Congolese Armed Forces or by armed groups," Montas said.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission started backing the Congolese army earlier this year in its effort to oust Rwandan Hutu militiamen, many of whom fled to Congo after participating in Rwanda's 1994 genocide that killed more than 500,000 people.
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