UN suspends support for DR Congo army over killings

Mon Nov 2, 1:21 PM ET

KINSHASA (AFP) - The UN has withdrawn its support for Congolese army units operating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a top UN official announced Monday, accusing its soldiers of killing 62 civilians.

UN peacekeeping chief Alain Leroy said "civilians have been clearly targeted in attacks by certain elements of the FARDC (the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo)".

"We have decided that MONUC (the UN peacekeeping mission) will immediately suspend its logistical and operational support to the army units implicated in these killings," Leroy told UN-sponsored Radio Okapi.

He said at least 62 civilians, including a large number of women and children, were slaughtered between May and September this year in Nord-Kivu province, during the UN-backed operation to flush out Rwandan Hutu FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) rebels.

The UN would await the results of a joint inquiry into the killings being carried out with the Congolese army, before contemplating further action, Leroy said.

The US special advisor on the Great Lakes region Howard Wolpe said the operation, known as Kimia II, had led to "unacceptable" killings, rape and displacement of civilians.

Wolpe told journalists in Johannesburg, where he kicked off a regional tour, that measures must be taken to minimise the effects of the campaign on civilians.

"Some security objectives have been reached, but there are indications of thousands and thousands of civilians being killed or raped or displaced. This is unacceptable," he said.

"No one wants to turn down the efforts to get after the FDLR... but measures can be taken to minimize those casualties," said Wolpe, suggesting more patrols by the UN peacekeeping force.

He said eliminating the FDLR would happen "over time with continuation of military pressure" and added political measures. He also urged "more energetic efforts to go after the FDLR leadership who are in the EU or in the US."

For months, UN peacekeepers have been providing significant backing for Kimia II, including tactical, transport and aviation support, as well as food, fuel and medical care, at an estimated cost of over six million dollars (four million euros).

Human Rights Watch in a report last month criticised UN peacekeepers, saying they "have not used their leverage to get the government to remove commanders with known track records of human rights abuses from participating in the operations".

Leroy, speaking in Kinshasa, said it appeared that the soldiers who carried out the atrocities were members of the FARDC's 213rd regiment.

"It is up to the FARDC, of course, and eventually the legal system, to take the necessary measures," he added.

The UN official arrived in DR Congo last Thursday to evaluate the peace process in the country, which has been destabilised by a decade of civil war and rebellions.

The FDLR has been based in eastern Congo ever since its ouster from neighbouring Rwanda following that country's 1994 genocide. Some current FDLR leaders are believed to have participated in the genocide, in which 800,000 people were killed.

Speaking later in the Rwandan capital Kigali, Leroy said, "Even if there are a few mistakes to correct, we're almost satisfied by the way the FARDC carries out its operations in hunting down the FDLR."

He was talking after a meeting with Rwandan Foreign Minister Rosemary Museminali.

"What we'd like now is to concentrate on the strengthening of cooperation between the Rwandan and Congolese governments with regard to the situation in eastern DR Congo," Leroy added.

"It's an emergency to consider in humanitarian terms."