The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, is looking for information about war crimes in eastern DRC. Meanwhile, M23 rebels launched a renewed offensive toward Bukavu in South Kivu.
International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors said they were “closely following” events in the Democratic Republic of Congo amid renewed fighting between M23 rebels and Congolese forces.
Chief prosecutor Karim Khan opened an investigation into the conflict in eastern Congo last October, and on Wednesday, his office issued an urgent call for any information on alleged war crimes.
“Credible sources indicate that thousands of persons have been wounded and hundreds killed in and around Goma, including civilians and peacekeepers,” Kahn’s office said in a statement.
“The ongoing situation in and around Goma falls within the scope of the [office’s] current investigation.”
At least 2,900 people have been killed in the latest fighting, according to the latest UN estimates.
“So far, 2,000 bodies have been collected from the Goma streets in recent days, and 900 bodies remain in the morgues of the Goma hospitals,” Vivian van de Perre, deputy chief of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO), told a press conference on Wednesday.
M23 rebels push toward Bukavu
The ICC’s call for information came as M23 rebels and their Rwandan allies reportedly launched a new offensive on Wednesday, despite claiming to have initiated a ceasefire a day earlier.
M23 fighters have now seized the mining town of Nyabibwe, roughly 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Bukavu in South Kivu province.
“This is proof that the unilateral ceasefire that has been declared was, as usual, a ploy,” Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya told the AFP news agency.
Various groups have for decades fanned conflict in the eastern DRC, which is home to large deposits of coltan, gold and other minerals and elements used in high-tech devices.
The Congolese government and some observers have accused Rwanda of destabilizing the country to secure access to these natural resources, although Rwanda has long denied this.
Authorites report mass rape at Goma prison
Meanwhile, authorities also said on Wednesday that more than 160 female prison inmates had been raped during a jailbreak that occurred when M23 rebels seized Goma on January 27.
Some 4,000 people escaped from Munzenze prison as rebels took control over the regional capital.
“Over 160 women in Munzenze prison were raped and a number yet to be established were burned when their wing at the prison was set on fire,” local police investigator Robert Kayembe told Germany’s DPA news agency.
MONUSCO’s deputy chief van de Perre said the women died in the fire afterward.
