U.N. inspects mass grave in Congo, more feared
Five stories:
United Nations investigators are inspecting a mass grave in Congo and fear more will be found as civilians start to speak out about killings by Rwandan-backed rebels nearly a decade ago, a U.N. spokeswoman said on Monday.
Residents told U.N. officials that the grave near Rutshuru, 80 km (50 miles) north of the eastern town of Goma, contained the remains of Rwandan Hutus and Congolese civilians killed by Rwandan-backed rebels in 1996.
U.N. officials say the Democratic Republic of Congo's peace process, including the formation of a new national army, is gradually giving civilians the confidence to report what happened in their region during years of conflict.
"The population is speaking more openly now and there are reports that hundreds of people were rounded up and executed during this period," U.N. spokeswoman Jacqueline Chenard said by telephone from Goma.
"Our colleagues from the human rights department are investigating this first grave but there could be more."
Rwanda sent its army into Congo in the mid-1990s under the pretext of hunting down Hutu extremists responsible for the killing of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus during the 1994 genocide.
The Rwandan soldiers and Congolese rebels who fought next to them, including Laurent Kabila's Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL), faced little resistance before ousting dictator Mobutu Sese Seku in 1997.
The Rwandan-backed forces have been accused of human rights violations but activists in eastern Congo say years of instability prevented civilians from speaking out.
"The local population said that the people in the grave were Rwandan Hutus and members of the local population killed by the AFDL in October 1996," Chenard said.
"They said the soldiers called meetings and at the meetings people were killed by machetes so there was less noise."
Kabila fell out with his Rwandan backers and another rebellion in 1998 sparked a five-year war that drew in six neighbouring countries and caused nearly four million deaths, mostly from hunger and disease.
A transitional government has been established in Kinshasa and elections are due next year, but sporadic fighting continues in the east and human rights violations are widespread.
From the BBC...
A United Nations team has started investigating three mass graves found in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Dozens of skulls and bones have been exhumed from the graves, discovered at Rutshuru, about 50km (30 miles) north of Goma more than a week ago.
They are the latest in a number of mass graves found in the region recently.
A UN spokeswoman told the BBC the remains were believed to be those of Congolese and Rwandan Hutus killed by Rwandan soldiers in 1996.
At the time the Rwandan Army was venturing into the DR Congo trying to find those responsible for mass genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
The graves were exhumed by Congolese troops.
"They are Congolese Hutus who were massacred by the Rwandan army in 1996 and in the following years," the commander of the troops, Col Jean-Marie Shekasikila, said.
Following the 1994 genocide, which saw more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus killed, many Rwandan Hutus fled to neighbouring DR Congo fearing for reprisals from the new-Tutsi-led government.
Hutu extremists who are thought to have helped carry out the killings also crossed the border to set up camps. Some 15,000 are still thought to be in the country.
We believe that thousands of people were massacred and that we will discover more graves," said Colonel Shekasikila of the 5th Brigade, who are carrying out the diggings.
"We found the first one as we were doing digging work to build a latrine, then town residents showed us two other spots where there were bones," he said.
Captain Jose Mabiala, a spokesman for the 5th Brigade, accused Rwandan officers of being responsible for the killings.
"Rebels backed by Rwanda dominated the Rutshuru region at the time and young army officers came to kill residents," he said.
The country, one of Africa's most resource-rich states, was in political turmoil at the time, which eventually led to the overthrow of its dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
UN troops continue to keep the peace in the country, which threatens to erupt into civil war.
From the AP...
Army troops have unearthed three mass graves in eastern Congo believed to contain the bodies of hundreds of Rwandan exiles and Congolese citizens killed at the start of Congo's civil war in 1996, officials said Sunday.
Local residents informed authorities last month of the graves' locations in Rutshuru, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Goma, said Jacqueline Chenard, a U.N. spokeswoman.
During the past two weeks, skulls, bones and human tissue have been exhumed from the sites by the Congolese army, and a U.N. team composed of human rights officials and peacekeepers was investigating the discovery, Chenard said.
Survivors of the killings alleged that more than 300 people were slaughtered with guns and machetes by Congolese rebels backed by Rwandan soldiers, Chenard said. The Congolese rebels were led by Laurent Kabila, the late father of President Joseph Kabila.
A U.N. peacekeeping official who visited the sites, however, said those killed were believed to have been massacred by Rwandan army soldiers who invaded eastern Congo in 1996 to hunt down Rwandan Hutu militiamen and former soldiers who together orchestrated Rwanda's 1994 genocide, which claimed the lives of an estimated 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
The peacekeeping official said he had seen the remains of about 35 bodies at the sites. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press publicly.
Following Rwanda's genocide, millions of Hutus fled to Congo. Millions have since returned home, but around 12,000 Rwandan Hutu fighters are still believed to be holed up in Congo's lawless eastern forests. Facing justice in Rwandan courts, few of them have little incentive to return home.
Human rights groups and residents of both countries allege Rwandan troops killed thousands of Rwandan Hutus -- combatants and their families -- as they advanced across Congo in 1996-1997, propelling Laurent Kabila to power.
From AFP...
Human remains have been found in three mass graves in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), thought to date from shortly after the 1994 Rwandan genocide, AFP correspondents witnessed on Saturday.
Dozens of human skulls, bones and body tissue, have been exhumed from the sites since mid-September by a Congolese army brigade, which recently deployed to Rutshuru, about 50km north of Goma, the main town in the eastern Nord-Kivu province.
"They are Congolese Hutus who were massacred by the Rwandan army in 1996 and in the following years," the commander of the 5th brigade, Colonel Jean-Marie Shekasikila, told AFP.
Following the Rwandan genocide, in which about 800 000 people were killed, most of them Tutsis, thousands of Hutus fled over the border into the DRC for fear of reprisals from the new Tutsi-led authorities in Kigali.
At the same time, Hutu extremists who took part in the genocide crossed the border to set up rear bases in the DRC.
Rwandan troops made several incursions into Congolese territory, ostensibly to root out the Hutu militias.
"We believe that thousands of people were massacred and that we will discover more graves," said Colonel Shekasikila.
"We found the first one as we were doing digging work to build a latrine, then town residents showed us two other spots where there were bones," he said.
A 5th brigade spokesperson, Jose Mabiala, charged that the killings were carried out in 1996 by Rwandan officers - amid the widespread instability leading up to the overthrow of late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko a year later.
"Rebels backed by Rwanda dominated the Rutshuru region at the time and young army officers came to kill residents," he said.
Another officer, who did not give his name, said that Rwandan troops "gathered people together under the pretext of a meeting and then murdered them, most of the time with a machete blow to the back of the neck".
The United Nations mission to the country, Monuc, on Saturday sent a team of human rights investigators to Rutshuru.
A United Nations team is investigating three mass graves found in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) a spokesperson for the UN mission in the country, Monuc, said on Monday in Kinshasa.
Dozens of human skulls and bones have been exhumed from the graves discovered in Rutshuru, some 50km north of the town of Goma on the border with Rwanda.
"According to locals living in the areas, the mass graves date back to 1996 and they believe them to be of Hutu refugees," the spokesperson said.
Following the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which more than 800 000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed, many Hutus fled the country fearing reprisal attacks by the Tutsi-led government.
"We don?t know the circumstances surrounding these mass graves and it is too early to say when the enquiry is expected to be complete," added the Monuc spokesperson.
Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant for the arrest of the leader of the rebel Ugandan Lords Resistance Army suspected of being in hiding in DRC.
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