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DR Congo accuses 6 rebels of killing civilians

Saturday, 20 August 2016 6:03 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 20 August 2016 6:08 PM ]

Servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo stand guard as people gather to attend the public hearing of suspected members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia group of Ugandan origin blamed for the death of hundreds of civilians in eastern DRC, in Beni, August 20, 2016. (AFP)

A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has accused six suspected members of a Ugandan rebel group of taking part in the killing last weekend of dozens of civilians east of the country.

Colonel Jean-Paulin Esosa, the Congolese official who presides over the operational military court of North Kivu province, said Saturday that the men were charged with “participation in an insurrectional movement, crimes against humanity for murder and terrorism.”

Esosa said the six included “two Ugandans, one Tanzanian and three Congolese.”

Reporters covering the court session said the men, who appeared at the public hearing in blue and yellow prison shirts, admitted that they had been “at the service of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF),” an armed group believed to be of Ugandan origin which has been present in DR Congo for more than two decades.

The group has been blamed for a litany of crimes and human rights abuses in DR Congo with officials saying it funds its criminal networks through kidnappings, smuggling and logging.

The trial on Saturday, where hundreds of residents called for justice to be served, was to address the recent mass killing in the city of Beni, where according to the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), at least 50 people were hacked to death.

The gruesome violence sparked mass street protests against the government for failing to protect the population against the rebels. Three people, including a policeman, were killed in escalated clashes that erupted on Wednesday.

More than 700 people have been killed in attacks blamed on the ADF in the restive eastern part of DR Congo over the past two years. Observers say, however, that troops from the regular DRC army have also been involved in the killings.

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