UN rights body votes to investigate Kasai killings

The UN has opened an investigation into killings in central
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), though some 
Western countries and campaign groups say they had 
hoped it would have a stronger mandate.

DRC's government has been fighting armed groups 
in the Kasai region since August, prompting fears of a 
wider conflict in the central African country, riven by 
ethnic rivalry and competing claims over mineral resources.

DRC's Catholic church said this week the violence had 
killed more than 3,300 people since October, with both government forces and the militia responsible for hundreds 
of deaths.

On Friday, the UN's Human Rights Council, composed 
of 47 member states, adopted by consensus the
 resolution calling for an investigation, brought by African countries.

Zenon Mukongo Ngay, DRC's ambassador, addressing 
the inter-governmental body, said President Joseph 
Kabila's government would cooperate to shed light on atrocities.

But the Congolese justice system would be in charge 
of the joint investigations, with the UN providing "technical 
or logistical support", he said.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for 
human rights, who is to name fact-finding experts to the investigation, had called repeatedly for an international 
inquiry into the events in Kasai, an opposition stronghold.

"We fully support the establishment of an international
investigation ... as a step forward in identifying the
perpetrators of gross violations and bringing them to
 justice," Zeid said in a statement.

His office, the OHCHR, is counting on the 
"full cooperation" of the government and on the experts 
having unfettered access to all sites, files, people and places.

"The team will conduct investigations in a fully 
independent manner, in accordance with international standards," he said.


Excessive force

Zeid told the Human Rights Council on Tuesday that 
a militia linked to the government has committed a string 
of ethnically motivated attacks in recent months, including cutting off toddlers' limbs and stabbing pregnant women.

The DRC government has repeatedly denied that 
security forces systematically use excessive force and 
insists it is capable of conducting its own investigations.

Several government officials have said in recent days 
that they were pleased a EU proposal for a fully 
independent international investigation into the 
violence had been withdrawn.

However, diplomats said elements of that had been
incorporated into the African text.

In a statement to the Human Rights Council, Jason 
Mack, a representative from the US delegation, said 
the US welcomed the resolution but retained doubts 
about the DRC government's commitment to a 
transparent investigation.

Paul Nsapu, deputy secretary-general of the International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), a French
nongovernmental organisation, said investigators 
might not have sufficient authority to identify 
perpetrators of rights abuses.

"This resolution risks not being enough to stop the
massacres," he said.

Leila Matar of Human Rights Watch said in a 
statement that the inquiry "brings hope of uncovering the 
truth about the horrific violence".