Commission to investigate human rights abuses

A national commission to investigate human rights abuses during the rebel campaign to overthrow the Mobutu regime has been set up, state radio reported yesterday. The commission was created at the suggestion of the UN special rapporteur for the DRC, the radio said. The commission is to act as an “independent body”. Its terms of reference include the investigation of alleged massacres and atrocities committed in eastern DRC and Equateur province from October 1996 to May 1997. ICRC to open Kalemie office The ICRC is to open an office in Kalemie to meet the needs of an isolated local population.

With supply routes both by land and water regularly cut by fighting, food prices are steadily rising in the town and insecurity has reduced agricultural production, ICRC said in a statement. The agency also noted that there is a shortage of basic medicines and surgical instruments. With the opening of the ICRC office, the town’s citizens would be helped to contact relatives in other parts of the country.