KINSHASA (AFP) — Human Rights Watch on Thursday denounced a "spectacular increase" in the number of rebel attacks on civilians in eastern and northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo since January.
At least 1,500 civilians have been killed and "thousands of women and young girls have been raped" by Rwandan and Ugandan rebel groups active in the DR Congo's eastern Kivu and Orientale Provinces, HRW said in a report.
Most such violence was the work of the Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) further north, but the Congolese army (FARDC) also committed rights violations, the report said.
Late last year and early this year, the Rwandan, Ugandan and South Sudan armies launched joint operations with the FARDC to try to crush the two rebel movements, but they succeeded mostly in driving them deeper into the forests.
An HRW official, Ken Roth, said in the report that "the military operations of government forces have had disastrous consequences for civilians, who are now attacked from all sides."
"Nine (HRW) investigative missions to the front lines reported a spectacular increase in cases of attacks on the civilian population" in Nord-Kivu Province, which is FDLR territory, and the Haut-Uele district where the LRA operates in the far northeast.
The FDLR is estimated at between 5,000 and 6,000 men, while the LRA includes 500 fighters, who also operate in the Central African Republic and South Sudan, having been defeated in north Uganda.
The New York-based HRW said that all parties to the killing, raping and abuse of civilians were guilty of crimes against humanity, including the FARDC troops.
Within the Congolese army, part of the problem was "pay arrears, rationing of supplies and a shaky command structure," according to the rights body, which said that soldiers consequently terrorised civilians.
HRW also noted that the "number of children and adults being kidnapped has increased, which might suggest that the LRA is trying to swell its ranks."
The UN mission in the DR Congo (MONUC) announced Wednesday that it had reinforced its military strength to fight the Ugandan rebels.
"In response to the still persistent threat from the LRA, MONUC has gone on reinforcing" its task force, notably with combat helicopters, military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich told a press conference.
He said that four Russian-built MI-17 combat helicopters and one MI-25 reconnaissance helicopter had been added to the team.
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