The United Nations warns against escalation in the Congo war with the M23 rebels who bring “brief executions” and gang rape

Geneva On Friday, the United Nations expressed its warning of the outbreak of the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, as the armed group M23 pushed the deeper in the country, and warning against the brief executions and rape on a large scale. The group’s capture of most Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, was earlier in the week a major escalation in an area that witnessed decades of conflict that includes multiple armed groups.

The United Nations said on Thursday that it was “very worried” through “reliable reports” that the Rwandans-backed M23 rebels were moving south of Goma to Bocafo-capital, the neighboring South Kivu province.

UN Rights Office spokesman Jeremy Lawrence said that since the beginning of the crisis, the bombs have been at least two locations that include an internal displaced (IDPS), “which caused civilian victims,” ​​said UN -Right spokesman Jeremy Lawrence.

“We have also documented brief executions of at least 12 people by M23 between 26 and 28 January,” he told reporters in Geneva.

In areas under the control of the M23 in southern Kivu, such as Minova, he said that the group “occupied schools and hospitals, forced the displaced people to the displaced people to the camps and exposed to the civilian population to enforced forced recruitment and forced work.”

He said that the Rights Office documented “cases of sexual violence related to the conflict by the army, the allied fighters and Zalindo in the lands of Calais.”

“We are investigating reports that 52 women were raped by the Congolese forces in southern Kivu, including alleged reports of gang rape,” he said.

Separately, it was referred to reports from the officials of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which indicates that at least 165 women were raped by male prisoners when more than 4000 prisoners erupted from Mozinzi prison in Ghama on January 27, when the M23 began his attack on the city.

“Sexual violence related to the conflict was a horrific advantage of the armed conflict in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo for decades,” Lawrence said.

He added that the President of the United Nations Rights Volcker Turk “is particularly concerned that this recent escalation risk deepening the risk of sexual violence associated with the conflict.”

Lawrence warned that “the spread of extensive weapons in Goma” was “increasing” those risks.

He also called for investigations to bring “perpetrators to justice” and ensure accountability.

Ruth McLean, head of the West Africa Office of the New York Times, told CBS News this week that increasing violence in Juma was a special concern, months ago, who poured out the countryside surrounding the city in search of a rest period of fighting. McLean said that many of the displaced people were living in the open, leaving them in an increased danger.

The United Nations, and many Western governments and the group of living organisms, accuse the Rwanda government of supporting the M23 in an attempt to control its vast metal resources in the largest eastern neighbor, in an escalation of a crisis that has been playing for many years over several international borders.