Govt. forces killed 500 civilians in DRC: HRW report

Human Rights Watch says that government soldiers have ""deliberately"" killed over 500 civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo since March.

HRW made the conclusion based on 21 fact-finding missions that were carried out in North and South Kivu provinces from January to October 2009.

They found evidence that the Congolese soldiers shot many at close range and even chopped some victims to death with machetes. The soldiers made no distinction between combatants and civilians, HRW said.

At least 505 civilians were killed by government troops during the Kimia II operation, which began in March and ended in September. The operation was officially launched to target rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in the country's east.

""Another 198 civilians were deliberately killed by Congolese army soldiers and their Rwandan army allies during an earlier five-week joint operation, known as Umoja Wetu, in late January and February,"" the Human Rights Watch report stated.

Meanwhile, a top UN official announced early on Monday that the United Nations had withdrawn its support for Congolese army units operating in the east, accusing its soldiers of killing 62 civilians.

Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that at least 81 civilians were killed in early August when Congolese army soldiers attacked five hamlets within a few kilometers of one another and around 15 kilometers from a UN base.

(Source: Press TV)

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