Ethnic violence in DRC's Kasai region spirals out of control
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Ethnic violence in Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kasai region has spiralled out of control with the complicity of the government and could be exploited to postpone national elections, a senior UN human rights official said on Friday (August 4).
“Whether or not the government is instigating this specifically to postpone elections is impossible to determine,” Scott Campbell, head of Central and West Africa at the UN human rights office, told a UN briefing in Geneva.
“Our concern is that this could be manipulated for a postponement of elections which could make make other types of violence and human rights violations (more likely).”
“The nature and the scope of what’s taken place, it’s a very wide spread attacks, many of of the attacks on villages appeared to be well planned, the nature of the acts committed, widespread killings, this could constitute crimes against humanity under international law,” said Scott Campbell. “Of course, only a competent Tribunal or Court can determine that.”
New #DRC report: Victims’ harrowing accounts indicate Government complicity in ethnic-based massacres in #Kasai https://t.co/SGDfkcxjCI pic.twitter.com/ePOtV5ajsq
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) August 4, 2017
Delivering assistance in Kasaï is a huge challenge due to difficult road conditions + security issues https://t.co/tRvyN6vfxm
Refugees</a> <a href="https://t.co/xn2CcB63vJ">pic.twitter.com/xn2CcB63vJ</a></p>— GenevaImpact (GenevaImpact) August 4, 2017
with Reuters