Rebel group guilty of Kisangani massacres

A report by a UN expert has detailed "the massacres" of at least 183 people in Kisangani, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, allegedly committed by one of the main rebel groups in the country, the Rwanda-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma).

The killings started following a mutiny in Kisangani on Sunday, involving troops of the RCD-Goma, the de-facto authority in eastern Congo. The group briefly occupied a local radio station and appealed to the public to expel Rwandan troops from the country. A number of people were immediately killed by a mob, after which RCD-Goma troops retaliated.

In a briefing to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson cited accounts by witnesses in Kisangani detailing the shooting of police and soldiers who were ordered to lie down, with their hands bound; others were hacked to death with machetes or had their throats slit on the Tshopo Bridge in the city.

"It appears that some of the bodies were decapitated before being thrown in the river. Some of the bodies were reportedly put in plastic bags," she said.

Among the dead were 103 civilians and at least 60 soldiers and police officers. But the report indicated that a further 20 unidentified bodies were also observed in the Tshopo River after the mutiny.

"The authorities should take immediate steps to arrest those among them who ordered or were involved in the actual massacre of civilians, soldiers and policemen," she said.

The report was compiled by the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, Asma Jahangir, following her visit to the Congo from 16 to 22 June.