Horror: UN found another 38 probable mass graves in DR Congo

Another 38 probable mass graves have been found in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, where violence between
troops and armed fighters has killed thousands of people
since August, the United Nations announced on Wednesday.

This means at least 80 mass graves have been identified so
far, the UN peacekeeping mission in the vast Central African
nation said.

The latest mass graves were found this month in the 
Diboko and Sumbula areas of Kamonia territory by an investigative team from the local UN human rights office 
and the DRC's military justice authorities, the UN said.

The international community has expressed alarm over
 the violence in the once-calm Kasai provinces region. Some
diplomats have suggested that the tensions are also tied to
DRC's presidential election that has been delayed since last
year.

The Kasai crisis was sparked by the government's 
refusal to grant official status to Jean-Pierre Mpandi, 
known as Kamuina Nsapu, as one of the region's traditional chiefs.

Mpandi then mobilised his armed group in an uprising 
against the state's presence in the area. After he was 
killed during fighting in August 2016, the violence escalated.

More than 3,000 people have been killed, nearly 1.3 million
displaced and about 30,000 have fled to neighbouring 
Angola, according to the Catholic Church and the UN.

The government has accused the Kamuina Nsapu 
armed group of dumping bodies into mass graves. But UN
investigators believe many of the mass graves contain the
remains of suspected Kamuina Nsapu members or
supporters.

On Tuesday, UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix
expressed serious concern to the UN Security Council that
violence in the Kasai provinces "has reached very disturbing
levels".

The DRC's government now points to the violence as the
reason for further election delays. The country's UN
ambassador, Ignace Gata Mavita, has said voter 
registration has not yet begun in two provinces - Kasai and Kasai Central - as a result of the fighting. Registration is scheduled to begin July 20, he said.

President Joseph Kabila's mandate ended in December, 
and after deadly protests the government and opposition reached a December 31 agreement that calls for the vote by the end of this year - without Kabila as a candidate.

The head of the electoral commission, however, now 
says that timeframe won't be possible.