UN team to visit site of Congo massacre

A team of United Nations inspectors is scheduled to visit the site of reported mass killings in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Friday development comes after the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the African country (MONUSCO) announced on Thursday that its reconnaissance flight had discovered three villages burnt to the ground, BBC reported.

“We were able to carry out a reconnaissance flight in the afternoon, and we were able to observe from the air that three villages had been burnt,” said MONUSCO official Ray Torres on Thursday as quoted in the report.

“We were not able to send yet any of our staff to the locations to verify, but we will be doing that tomorrow,” he added.

The UN group further stated that it believed more than 70 people had been summarily executed in late January and early February.

A UN peacekeeping force has expanded its presence in the area following the defeat of the M23 rebel group last November.

According to the report, the UN mission in Congo further said the killings were mostly committed in North Kivu province to spread terror as most of the victims were killed by machetes.

Over 40 armed groups are known to operate in the region, and at least four of them are believed to pose a significant threat.

Eastern DR Congo has suffered from two decades of violence linked to ethnic rivalries and competition for the control of the area’s mineral resources, leaving an estimated five million people dead.

MFB/NN

 

Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/02/14/350647/un-team-to-visit-site-of-congo-massacre/

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