DRC: Rwandan forces and M23 rebels shelled refugee camps in DRC, report claims
Rwandan forces and M23 rebels have shelled refugee camps and other highly populated areas in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo on many occasions this year, Human Rights Watch has claimed. The NGO also accused the DRC’s armed forces and its allied militias of putting the camps’ residents in danger by stationing their artillery nearby in its report alleging violation of international humanitarian and human rights law in the longstanding war in the central African country. Decades-long fighting among regional armies and rebels in eastern DRC has killed and displaced millions. Most of the displaced live in the eastern provinces of the country, including North Kivu, where M23, with assistance from the Rwandan army, has managed to take control in many areas. More than half a million people have been forced into camps near Goma, the capital of North Kivu, as the rebel group advances. The researchers for the report interviewed 65 witnesses, camp authorities and victims of abuses in six displacement camps around Goma. They also spoke with 31 humanitarian, diplomatic, UN, and military sources and analysed photos and videos of attack sites, images of weapon remains, and satellite imagery. The researchers said they had found five instances since January in which Rwandan and M23 forces fired artillery and rockets at displacement camps or inhabited places near Goma. In one incident in May, the report says, Rwandan or M23 forces killed at least 17 civilians, most of them children, when they fired at least three rockets into the 8ème Cepac camp. The report says the DRC army stationed its artillery near the camps, putting the residents at risk. Follow link for full story