Congo massacres: UN rights chief seeks international inquiry into killings

Joseph Kabila Kabange, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, addresses the 69th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York September 25, 2014. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo

The top United Nations human rights official called on Friday for establishing an international investigation into massacres and other crimes committed in Kasai province of the Democratic Republic of Congo where at least 42 mass graves have been found.

In a statement, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein urged the U.N. Human Rights Council, which is holding a session till June 23, to act as the government “response to date falls short”. Zeid had given the Kinshasa government a June 8 deadline to agree to jointly investigate.

Hundreds of people have been killed and more than a million displaced in central Congo since fighting broke out last August between a local militia and government forces, the United Nations has said.

 

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