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Fonte: Reuters http://www.nigrizia.it/ Mercoledì 15 febbraio 2017
R.d.congo: nel kasai centrale l’esercito ha ucciso almeno 101 persone, molti civili.
Tra il 9 e il 13 febbraio l’esercito congolese ha ucciso almeno 101 persone, tra cui 39 donne nella regione del Kasai Centrale. A denunciare il massacro è stata ieri Liz Throssell, la portavoce dell’Agenzia Onu per i diritti umani. "Siamo profondamente preoccupati per l'elevato numero di decessi segnalati - ha detto -, che se confermati suggerirebbero un uso eccessivo e sproporzionato della forza da parte dei soldati governativi". Gli scontri hanno avuto luogo all’interno e alla periferia di Tshimbulu, circa 160 km a sud della capitale provinciale Kananga. Secondo fonti locali i militari avrebbero aperto il fuoco sparando indiscriminatamente con le mitragliatrici quando hanno avvistato i combattenti della milizia del defunto capo tribale Kamwina Nsapu, armati per lo più di machete e lance. Nsapu è stato ucciso dalle forze armate congolesi lo scorso agosto, dopo aver giurato di liberare la provincia del Kasai Centrale dalla presenza dei militari di Kinshasa, accusati d’aver abusato della popolazione locale. Gli scontri tra forze di sicurezza e milizie - che godono di ampio sostegno popolare - hanno provocato negli ultimi mesi centinaia sono morti e decine di migliaia di sfollati. In generale, la violenza delle milizie in Congo (una polveriera di conflitti legati alla terra, all’etnicità e alle risorse minerarie) è stata esacerbata dalla crisi politica dovuta alla volontà del presidente Joseph Kabila di restare al potere nonostante la scadenza del suo mandato costituzionale a dicembre.
Fonte: Reuters http://www.euronews.com/ 18/03/2017
Congo forces targeting civilians, denying peacekeepers access - U.N. By Aaron Ross
Government forces have targeted civilians, including women and children, resulting in numerous deaths in central Congo this week and are restricting United Nations peacekeepers’ access to the area, the country’s U.N. mission said on Saturday. Amid mounting accusations of violence against civilians, Congolese authorities on Saturday announced they had charged seven soldiers in connection with a video last month appearing to show army troops massacring suspected militia members. Democratic Republic of Congo’s army is carrying out operations against the Kamuina Nsapu militia. Clashes between the military and the insurgents have killed hundreds of people and displaced hundreds of thousands since last August. Militia violence in Congo, a tinder box of conflicts over land, ethnicity and minerals, has been worsened by President Joseph Kabila’s failure to step down when his elected mandate expired in December. The U.N. mission, MONUSCO, said it had received “credible reports of high numbers of deaths” this week in Kananga, the capital of Kasai-Central province, adding that security forces have restricted the mission’s freedom of movement. “I call for the immediate cessation of violence in Kananga and the Kasai region, and denounce the use of disproportionate force,” MONUSCO chief Maman Sidikou said in the statement. “I further call for an investigation by the appropriate authorities into events in Kananga in recent days, and that those found responsible for any human rights violations be held fully accountable,” Sidikou added. The statement also criticized Kamuina Nsapu militiamen for attacking state institutions and symbols. In an interview on Friday, government spokesman Lambert Mende denied that the army used excessive force and said local authorities could be blocking access to express frustration with what the government says is the mission’s condescending attitude. The United Nations has repeatedly accused government troops of using disproportionate force in clashes with the lightly armed Kamuina Nsapu militants. Last month’s video, which circulated on social media, appeared to show soldiers executing suspected militia members at point blank range. The military’s top prosecutor, Major General Joseph Ponde, told reporters in the capital Kinshasa on Saturday that charges against the seven soldiers include the war crimes of murder, mutilation and cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Ponde added that investigators plan to exhume two graves identified near the site of the alleged massacre in order to identify the victims, and have asked for MONUSCO’s assistance. Two U.N. officials, one U.S. citizen and the other of Swedish nationality, were kidnapped by unknown assailants in Kasai-Central this week.
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