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DR Congo: Army, UN Failed to Stop Massacre
July 3, 2014
(Goma) – Congolese forces and United Nations peacekeepers failed to intervene to stop a nearby attack that killed at least 30 civilians. The attack was in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu province on June 6, 2014.
Human Rights Watch research found that a senior Congolese army officer stationed nearby, who had been repeatedly warned and informed of the attack by armed assailants in the village of Mutarule, did not act to stop the killings. Members of the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, MONUSCO, based 9 kilometers away, were also aware of the attack but did not intervene, and only visited Mutarule two days after the massacre.
“The Congolese army and UN peacekeepers left civilians in Mutarule to be slaughtered even though they got desperate calls for help when the attack began,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, Africa advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Both the army and MONUSCO need to determine what went wrong and make sure such atrocities don’t happen again on their watch.”
Congolese military authorities opened an investigation into the attack and arrested two army officers and a civilian, but have not yet charged them. None of the attackers has been arrested.
in full: http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/07/02/dr-congo-army-un-failed-stop-massacre
