Congolese soldiers kill at least 101 in militia clashes -U.N.

GENEVA, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Soldiers targeting the Kamwina Nsapu militia group in central Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least 101 people between Feb. 9 and Feb. 13, including 39 women, the U.N. said on Tuesday.

The soldiers fired indiscriminately with machine guns when they saw the militia fighters, who were armed mainly with machetes and spears, human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssell said, citing sources in the country.

"We are deeply concerned at the reported high number of deaths, which if confirmed would suggest excessive and disproportionate use of force by the soldiers," she said. (Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Louise Ireland) </s> GENEVA: Soldiers targeting the Kamwina Nsapu militia group in central Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least 101 people between Feb. 9 and Feb. 13, including 39 women, the U.N. said on Tuesday.

The soldiers fired indiscriminately with machine guns when they saw the militia fighters, who were armed mainly with machetes and spears, human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssell said, citing sources in the country.

"We are deeply concerned at the reported high number of deaths, which if confirmed would suggest excessive and disproportionate use of force by the soldiers," she said. </s> Soldiers targeting the Kamwina Nsapu group in central Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least 101 people over five days in February, the UN said.

At least 39 women were among the victims killed amid the violence between February 9 and 13, the UN's human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssell said on Thursday, citing sources in the country.

The soldiers fired indiscriminately with machine guns when they saw the fighters, who were armed mainly with machetes and spears, she said.

"We are deeply concerned at the reported high number of deaths, which, if confirmed, would suggest excessive and disproportionate use of force by the soldiers," she said.

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The violence is also part of a broader surge in instability across Congo in recent weeks after President Joseph Kabila refused to step down when his constitutional mandate expired in December.

At least 11 people were killed on Monday in clashes between the army and a group loyal to a traditional chief slain in fighting with police last year, said local activist Jean Rene Tshimanga, president of the Civil Society of Kasai-Central province.

"This morning, we learned again that [the group] attacked the men in uniform [who] repelled them," Tshimanga told Reuters news agency. He did not know how many of the dead were fighters and how many army soldiers.

Neither provincial nor military officials could be immediately reached for comment.

Similar clashes have uprooted tens of thousands.

Analysts say violence in Congo, a tinderbox of conflicts linked to land, ethnicity and mineral resources, has been exacerbated by Kabila's failure to step down.

On Saturday, the Congo's UN peacekeeping mission said Kamwina Nsapu had committed violent atrocities and used child soldiers, and it also criticised the army for what it said was a disproportionate use of force against the militia fighters, who are typically only lightly armed. </s> Congolese soldiers kill at least 101 in militia clashes - U.N.

GENEVA, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Soldiers targeting the Kamwina Nsapu militia group in central Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least 101 people between Feb. 9 and Feb. 13, including 39 women, the U.N. said on Tuesday.

The soldiers fired indiscriminately with machine guns when they saw the militia fighters, who were armed mainly with machetes and spears, human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssell said, citing sources in the country.

"We are deeply concerned at the reported high number of deaths, which if confirmed would suggest excessive and disproportionate use of force by the soldiers," she said.

Hundreds have died and tens of thousands have been uprooted in central Congo in recent months in battles between security forces and the militia, who are seeking to avenge the death of their leader Kamwina Nsapu.

He was killed by the Congolese armed forces last August, after vowing to rid Congo's Kasai-Central province of all state security forces, accusing them of abusing the local population.

"It appears that since then the militia have become radicalised and they are attacking state institutions, what they see as the symbols of the state. The actual roots of the conflict are very deep and very complex," Throssell said.

The authority of some customary chiefs is recognised by the government and can be passed from father to son, but Kamwina Nsapu was not officially recognised.

Analysts say militia violence in Congo, a tinderbox of conflicts linked to land, ethnicity and mineral resources, has been exacerbated by President Joseph Kabila's failure to step down when his constitutional mandate expired in December.

Throssell did not have an estimate of the total size of the Kamwina Nsapu militia, but said there had been several attacks involving over 100 militia members.

"They have a lot of popular support," she added.

Many of the militia fighters are children but Throssell could not confirm if children were among the dead. The majority of the dead were thought to be militia members, but 39 women were caught in the firing line and killed during an incident in a market on Feb. 9, she said.

The clashes took place in and around the town of Tshimbulu, about 160 km (100 miles) south of the provincial capital Kananga, she said. (Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Louise Ireland and Pritha Sarkar) </s> At least 20 people were killed in ethnic clashes last week in the Democratic Republic of Congo's troubled Kasai region, according to the United Nations.

The UN's DR Congo mission said in a statement on Wednesday that the clashes took place in the central region, east of the Kasai capital, Tshikapa.

Violence between members of the Lulua-Luba and Chowe-Pende communities escalated, and saw at least 20 members of the Chowe-Pende killed, the agency said.

The Chowe-Pende accuse the Lulua-Luba of supporting the Kamwina Nsapu militia.

The Kamwina Nsapu militia claim its authority from chief Kamwina Nsapu, who was killed in the region in August 2016 by police after a rebellion against the Congolese authorities.

The militia has been fighting security forces largely to avenge the chief's death.

READ MORE: Kamwina Nsapu militia kill 40 policemen in DR Congo

According to the UN, fighting has killed at least 400 people, including two UN investigators, since government troops killed the chief eight months ago.

The violence has become the most serious threat to President Joseph Kabila, whose decision to stay in power after his mandate ran out in December gave rise to nationwide lawlessness.



The UN has accused the Kamwina Nsapu rebellion of numerous atrocities and of recruiting children for combat.

Numerous mass graves, reportedly dug by DRC soldiers after clashes with the militia, have also been found in the Kasai region.

The UN has almost 19,000 troops deployed in Congo, its largest and costliest peacekeeping mission. </s> DAKAR, April 19 (Reuters) - U.N. investigators have discovered 17 mass grave sites in central Democratic Republic of Congo, bringing the total to 40 documented in an area where the army has clashed with a local militia, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

The sites were reportedly dug by Congolese soldiers after fighting with the Kamuina Nsapu militia in Kasai Central province in late March, a U.N. statement said.

"At least 74 people, including 30 children, were reported to have been killed by soldiers as a result of these clashes," the statement said.

A government spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The government has previously denied that soldiers have used disproportionate force against militia members and said the militia had dug the graves.

The Kamuina Nsapu uprising has become the most serious threat to President Joseph Kabila, whose decision to stay in power after his mandate ran out in December stoked lawlessness in the vast central African nation.

More than 400 people have been killed in fighting in Kasai Central since last August, when Congolese forces killed the tribal militia's leader Kamuina Nsapu, escalating the conflict. </s> DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Investigators have confirmed another 17 mass graves in central Congo, bringing the number to 40 discovered since clashes between soldiers and a local militia intensified in August, the United Nations human rights office said Wednesday, adding that Congolese soldiers reportedly killed at least 114 people, including 41 children.

The recent violence in once-calm Central Kasai province has included the killing of an American and a Swedish investigator for the U.N. last month, alarming the international community.

U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein warned Wednesday that if Congo’s government doesn’t investigate the violence effectively, he’ll urge that the International Criminal Court or another outside entity do it.

The new U.N. statement said Congolese soldiers reportedly dug the 17 newly discovered mass graves after fighting with suspected militia members in late March and killing at least 74 people, including 30 children.

Congolese soldiers also reportedly killed at least 40 people, including 11 children, in the capital of Central Kasai province, Kananga, late last month while going door-to-door looking for militia members, the U.N. said. The soldiers also reportedly buried an “unknown number of bodies” in a mass grave there.

In addition, at least two women and three girls reportedly were raped by soldiers, the statement said.

In a separate area of Kananga, the U.N. investigators were told that Congolese police had fatally trampled a one-month-old baby while searching a house.

“The discovery of yet more mass graves and the reports of continued violations and abuses highlight the horror that has been unfolding in the Kasais over the last nine months,” Zeid said. He said it is vital that Congo’s government take “meaningful steps, which to date have been lacking,” to investigate.

There was no immediate comment from Congolese authorities, who have promised to look into the killings of the two U.N. investigators and their interpreter and protect civilians from further violence.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been displaced in the region since government troops killed the leader of the Kamwina Nsapu militia in August, according to the U.N.

Wednesday’s statement also blames militia members for some of the recent violence, including attacks on churches and government buildings, and it said the militia has been accused of recruiting hundreds of children as fighters. </s> United Nations investigators have unearthed scores of mass graves in a conflict-plagued region of the Democratic Republic of Congo that top U.N. officials describe as a scene of “horror.”

The U.N. says the Congolese military dug the mass grave after killing over 100 people last month, a sign that the DRC’s violence and political turmoil will almost certainly get worse before it gets better.

On Wednesday, the U.N. announced that its investigators have confirmed the existence of 17 new mass graves sites in the DRC’s Kasai region, bring the tally up to 40 mass graves discovered in the past nine months. The most recent batch was unearthed after the Congolese military killed at least 114 people, including 41 children, in its campaign to uproot an insurgency by the Kamuina Nsapu militia.

Most civilians were reportedly killed in their homes as soldiers went door to door hunting militia members. The U.N. also recounted reports of government forces raping women and girls. The U.N. accused the Kamuina Nsapu militia of carrying out their own atrocities and forcibly recruiting hundreds of child soldiers into their ranks.

The discovery sheds new light on a deadly conflict in the Kasai region that has displaced hundreds of thousands and morphed into a serious threat to embattled DRC President Joseph Kabila’s grip on power. While the Kamuina Nsapu rebellion is rooted in local grievances, it quickly ignited a nationwide political powder keg as grievances pile up against Kabila. Kabila refused to step down after his constitutional term limit expired in December, prompting mass protests and political turmoil, while exacerbating the country’s dire economic situation.

“The discovery of yet more mass graves and the reports of continued violations and abuses highlight the horror that has been unfolding in the Kasais over the last nine months,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. If the national government isn’t serious about investigating the crimes, Hussein added, he would urge the International Criminal Court to take up the matter. The Congolese government denied any involvement in the mass graves, and instead blamed militias.

Since 1999, the U.N. has maintained a peacekeeping mission — MONUSCO — in the DRC. With some 22,000 personnel, it’s the U.N.’s largest. But given the sheer expanse of the country, it “has only minimal capacity to respond to civil unrest of widening conflict,” said Hans Hoebeke, a Congo expert with the International Crisis Group.

 

 The Kasai conflict garnered international attention last month after militias abducted and killed two U.N. experts, one American and one Swedish. Since the conflict first escalated in August, 2016, over 400 people have been killed. </s> Twenty people died in ethnic clashes last week in the troubled central Kasai region of Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations said Wednesday.

The UN's DR Congo mission, MONUSCO, said in a statement that the clashes took place on April 19 east of the Kasai capital, Tshikapa, between members of the Lulua-Luba and Chowe-Pende communities, killing 20 Chowe-Pende people.

The Chowe-Pende consider themselves indigenous to the Kasai region and accuse the Lulua-Luba from the neighbouring Kasai region of supporting the Kamwina Nsapu militia.

The latter claim their authority from chief Kamwina Nsapu who was killed in the region in August 2016 by police after a rebellion against the Congolese authorities.

Kasai has since been shaken by violence between security forces and militias in which around 100 people died, including two UN experts -- American Michael Sharp and dual Swedish-Chilean national Zaida Catalan.

The Kamwina Nsapu rebellion has been accused by the UN of numerous atrocities and recruiting children.

The security forces, meanwhile, are blamed by the UN for making disproportionate use of force against militia armed mainly with sticks and stones.
According to the United Nations, the Congolese military has killed at least 101 people, including over 30 women, in the last five days while fighting Kamwina Nsapu rebels in Kasaï-Central.