Two mass graves with at least 171 bodies were discovered in eastern Congo. The find near the town of Uvira came shortly after the withdrawal of M23 rebels from the area.
Congolese authorities and a civil society group announced on Thursday that mass graves had been discovered in a part of eastern Congo from which the M23 rebel group recently withdrew. Fighting in this region is escalating despite the peace agreement brokered by the US, TASR reports, according to a report by the AFP and AP agencies.
- Mass graves were discovered in the eastern part of the Congo after the retreat of the M23.
- The governor of the province of South Kivu announced the discovery of two graves near the town of Uvira.
- There are approximately thirty bodies in Kiromoni, one hundred and forty-one in Kavimvir.
- Civic activists did not reach the graves, the Congolese army prevented them from doing so.
- Findings so far attribute the killings to M23 rebels suspecting people of collaboration.
South Kivu provincial governor Jacques Purusi said authorities in the area discovered two mass graves with at least 171 dead bodies in the districts of Kiromoni and Kavimvira on the outskirts of the eastern city of Uvira.
Discovery of graves
“At this stage we have identified two sites: one mass grave with around 30 bodies in Kiromoni, not far from the Burundian border on the Congolese side, and another in Kavimvir where 141 bodies were found,” Purusi told the AP by phone, which noted that it could not independently verify the claims. A spokesman for the M23 movement did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The executive secretariat of the civil society organization Local Network for the Protection of the Civilian Population said on Thursday that its representatives wanted to visit the mass graves but were prevented from doing so by the Congolese army.
M23 rebels behind the attacks?
The information gathered so far indicates that the victims were killed by insurgents from the M23 movement, said Yves Ramadhani, the group’s vice president. Both the governor and civil society say the rebels killed the individuals because they suspected them of belonging to the Congolese army or pro-government militia.
The Congolese army and the M23 movement have been accused of extrajudicial killings and abuse by human rights groups, AP adds.
