Rwanda-backed rebels committed possible war crimes in eastern Congo, rights group says

[ad_1] DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Human rights group Amnesty Worldwide accused the M23 rebels in japanese Congo of killing, torturing and forcibly disappearing civilian detainees in two rebel-controlled cities on Tuesday.

“These acts violate worldwide humanitarian regulation and should quantity to warfare crimes,” Amnesty stated in an announcement.

The decades-long battle in japanese Congo escalated in January, when the Rwanda-backed M23 superior and seized the strategic metropolis of Goma in North Kivu province, adopted by Bukavu in February.

Amnesty stated that between February and April, it interviewed 18 civilians who had been detained by M23 in Goma and Bukavu, after they have been accused of supporting the Congolese military or authorities. The previous detainees stated that the rebels produced no proof of those accusations and a number of other weren't knowledgeable of the explanations for his or her detention.

They have been held in overcrowded, unsanitary cells with out adequate meals, water, sanitation services or well being care, in accordance with the rights group. A number of stated that they noticed fellow detainees die from the tough situations, and torture.

Some described how they witnessed M23 fighters kill two detainees with hammers and shoot one other who died on the spot.

The entire former detainees interviewed by Amnesty stated that they have been both tortured or witnessed M23 fighters torture others in detention, describing extreme beatings with wood rods, electrical cables or engine belts.

The rights group stated that kin appeared for his or her family members on the detention websites, however M23 fighters usually refused to grant them entry or denied that their kin have been there, which Amnesty stated quantities to enforced disappearances.

M23 is one in all about 100 armed teams which were vying for a foothold in mineral-rich japanese Congo close to the border with Rwanda, in a battle that has created one of many world’s most important humanitarian crises. Greater than 7 million folks have been displaced, together with 100,000 who fled houses this 12 months.

The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, in accordance with U.N. consultants, and at occasions have vowed to march so far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) to the east.