UN investigates reports of atrocities in northeastern DR of Congo

The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has dispatched a team of experts to the northeastern part of the country to investigate reports of summary executions and other serious human rights violations.

According to a spokesperson for the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC), the UN team has been speaking to local residents in the North Kivu region seeking more solid information on reports of looting, rapes, mass graves and cannibalism. A report on the investigation will be completed in a few days.

That area of the country has been the scene of clashes between the Congolese Rally for Democracy/Liberation Movement and the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo, which had sparked widespread violence and caused massive populations displacement since last October, Patricia Tome said.

MONUC said it expects the team's report on the investigation to be handed over to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Sergio Vieira de Mello, when he visits the DRC next Monday and Tuesday.