The UN Human Rights Council is considering whether to launch an investigation into alleged abuses committed in eastern Congo on Kinshasa’s request. Rwanda alleged it was responding to an “imminent” threat from Congo.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Friday said that he was disturbed by the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and warned that violence could spread throughout the region.
The UN Human Rights Council is considering whether to launch an international investigation into alleged abuses committed in eastern Congo. The urgent meeting was requested by Kinshasa.
Last week, Rwandan-backed M23 fighters seized the crucial eastern Congolese city of Goma.
What did Türk say?
Türk warned that the conflict could expand beyond eastern Congo.
“If nothing is done, the worst may be yet to come, for the people of the eastern DRC, but also beyond the country’s borders,” he told an emergency meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“The risk of violence escalating throughout the sub-region has never been higher,” he said.
“All those with influence must act urgently to put an end to this tragic situation,” he said.
Turk said that he was “very concerned” about weapons proliferation in the region.
He said that the UN was investigating allegations of rape, gang rape and sexual slavery in eastern Congo.
On Wednesday, International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors said they were “closely following” the conflict amid “credible” reports of hundreds of deaths, including of civilians and peacekeepers.
M23 rebels reportedly launched new operations this week, despite claiming to have initiated a unilateral ceasefire on Tuesday.
Rwanda accuses Congo of planning ‘large-scale attack’
Kigali’s ambassador to the UN, James Ngango, alleged that Rwanda was responding to an “imminent” threat from Congo.
“We categorically oppose the DRC’s attempts to portray Rwanda as being responsible for its instability in the eastern DRC,” Ngango said at an emergency meeting of the Human Rights Council.
Kinshasa has accused Kigali of destabilizing Congo in order to secure access to the country’s vast mineral resources, an allegation Kigali has long denied.
“What is clear, however, is the imminent threat the current situation poses to Rwanda. Following the fall of Goma, new evidence has come to light regarding an imminent, large-scale attack against Rwanda,” he said.
He claimed that there was a stockpile of weapons around the airport in Goma.
The claims could not be independently verified.
UN experts have estimated that thousands of Rwandan troops are present in eastern Congo.
WHO warns of deteriorating health conditions in DRC
Also on Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the risk of the spread of disease in eastern Congo was intensifying amid the ongoing hostilities.
The WHO reported 600 suspected cholera cases and 14 deaths in the last month in North Kivu province, of which Goma is the capital.
The WHO warned that the conflict had disrupted its mpox vaccination campaign in the region.
“Ninety percent of mpox patients in isolation units in Goma had to flee,” Boureima Hmaa Sambo, the WHO’s representative for Congo, was cited by the Reuters news agency as saying.
Sambo said that vaccination programs were paused for ten days.
The representative was cited by the AFP news agency as saying that a laboratory containing samples of the deadly Ebola virus was “safe.”
“The bio bank of this lab is very well kept,” he said, adding that the WHO had managed to supply fuel to the facility’s generator even after electricity was cut.
