DR Congo: UN calls for investigation into clashes in western province
16 June 2008 - The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has called for a criminal investigation into
human rights violations during clashes between Government forces and a rebel group in Bas Congo province in February and
March.
A team led by the UN Office for Human Rights was deployed in Bas Congo province in March to prepare a report on the
violent incidents between the Congolese National Police (PNC) and the Bundu Dia Kongo (BDK) armed group.
The report, which was released on Friday, concluded that at least 100 people, mainly BDK members, were killed during the
operations launched by the PNC on 28 February 2008, in the province, which lies in the far west of the country.
From October 2007 onward, tensions were reported between BDK members and the local authorities in several Bas Congo
cities and villages. On 28 February this year, the Congolese Government launched operations to restore State authority
in the whole of the province.
According to the report, these police operations were carried out by the Rapid Intervention Force and the Integrated
Police Unit, sent from Kinshasa to respond to a series of criminal acts made by the BDK, which included murder, attacks
and the taking over of State authority in certain areas of Bas Congo.
The PNC were deemed responsible for the destruction of more than 200 buildings - including churches, houses of BDK
members as well as houses of civilians with no links to the BDK - in several Bas Congo villages, as well as the looting
of many houses in the province.
More than 150 BDK members were arrested during the violence, and several of them were victims of torture or cruel and
degrading treatment.
The mission, known as MONUC, recommended that that the Congolese Government provide sufficient training and equipment to
the PNC to manage situations such as those in Bas Congo, and called for an investigation "so that the presumed authors
of these criminal acts are judged and condemned in accordance with the law."
ENDS