HRW calls for harm to civilians to be reduced as fighting resumes in DRC

MADRID, 2 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has requested that the Congolese security forces and the armed group M23 in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo "minimize" the damage to civilians during the resumption of fighting.

The organization has recalled that previous fighting between government forces and the M23 led to widespread abuses against the civilian population and prolonged humanitarian crises.

"The armed group M23 was responsible for countless atrocities in the past and the renewed fighting in North Kivu raises serious concern about the danger to civilians in the area," said HRW's senior Congo researcher, Thomas Fessy.

Thus, he stressed that "all parties, including the rebel forces, the security forces of the Congo and its neighbors, and the United Nations peacekeeping forces, are obliged by international law to preserve civilians" .

On the other hand, a farmer from the village of Kibumba, some 20 kilometers north of Goma, where some of the fighting took place, told HRW about the return of M23: "Everyone knows how we suffer under the domination of these people, so many young people died. I don't think they can change, we can't expect anything good from them."

The organization has stressed that regional attempts to demobilize M23 fighters have failed in the last 10 years.

Thus, HRW has asserted that the current hostilities in eastern Congo should not deter the Tshisekedi government and neighboring countries from seeking justice for the abuses committed during the previous armed conflict on Congolese territory.

"The failure of governments in the region to seek justice for commanders from all sides implicated in past atrocities raises concern for the safety of civilians in any future combat," Fessy said.

In this regard, he has ruled that "governments that help abusive armed groups like the M23 run the risk of becoming accomplices in their crimes."

At least 37 civilians were killed on Sunday and several more were kidnapped in an attack by the Islamist Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia in the village of Beu-Manyama, Beni region, in eastern Republic of Congo.

Eastern DRC, and especially North Kivu and Ituri provinces, have been rocked by an uptick in attacks by armed groups in recent years, including the recent revival of operations by the March 23 Movement (M23 ), which in 2013 signed a peace agreement with the DRC authorities.