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UN mission team finds evidence of killings in eastern DR of Congo

UN mission team finds evidence of killings in eastern DR of Congo

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The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the troubled eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has found evidence that former Mayi-Mayi militiamen have killed seven civilians, a soldier and perhaps another six former officers from a rival militia, the UN spokesman said today.

The killings took place "during and after the retreat from the area of members of a faction of the former Congolese National Army, known as RCD-Goma military wing and often referred to by its French acronym ANC," Fred Eckhard said in a statement issued to journalists.

After a 21 and 22 December visit to Walikali, North Kivu, an investigative team from the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) confirmed that ex-Mayi-Mayi militiamen turned regular members of the DRC's national army carried out extra-judicial killings of "a Rwandan, a Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese and a Congolese from the BaShi community," he said.

In addition, the team obtained information corroborating reports of the murders of four civilians and a soldier, he said.

"The team also told of reports that six ex-ANC officers were taken prisoners and subsequently executed by the ex-Mayi Mayi forces. An in-depth investigation of these cases is underway," he said.

Mayi-Mayi tribal militias were allied with the former DRC Government in the five-year civil war that ended in June 2003 with the formation of a multi-factional Transitional Government.