{Enraged by a United Nations report accusing Congolese police forces of “gross human rights abuses,” Kinshasa has described as “persona non grata” the leader of the international group operating in the vast and war-ravaged nation.}
The DRC Minister of Internal Affairs, Richard Muyej said Scott Campbell, director of the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) in Congo must leave the country today Friday.
“The present report was conducted in biased manner with the clear motive of discrediting the PNC (Congolese National Police), of demoralising its agents and destabilising the institutions of the Republic,” said Muyej in a statement seen by Chimpreports.
The present report by the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) focuses on serious violations of human rights, especially “summary and extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances,” committed against civilians by agents of the Congolese National Police (PNC) during Operation Likofi.
This operation was set up to combat criminal delinquency in Kinshasa and took place from 15 November 2013 to 15 February 2014.
As a result of human rights investigations carried out since mid-November 2013 and on the basis of information corroborated during these investigations, the UNJHRO said it was able to confirm that Operation Likofi resulted in at least 41 male victims.
“Among the 41 victims, nine were summarily executed and 32 forcibly disappeared,” said the report.
“These violations were allegedly committed by PNC agents. Having received many more allegations of human rights violations which it has been unable to confirm, the UNJHRO believes that the total number of victims could be much higher.”
UN officials said the figures presented in the report only include the cases which have been recorded and verified by the UNJHRO in certain communes of the city of Kinshasa, implying more people could have been killed.
The United Nations have publicly expressed3 their concerns regarding these serious allegations of human rights violations and have shared the information available to them with Congolese authorities.4
The report makes several recommendations, in particular to ensure that independent and impartial investigations are carried out and, if the elements constituting the crimes are established, to ensure that the alleged perpetrators be brought to justice.
Chimpreports
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