KINSHASA - Democratic Republic of Congo
soldiers have "deliberately killed" more than 500 civilians since March
during an offensive targeting rebels in the country's east, Human
Rights Watch said Monday."Human Rights Watch conducted 21
fact-finding missions in North and South Kivu from January to October
2009, and found that Congolese army soldiers had deliberately killed at
least 505 civilians from the start of operation Kimia II in March
through September," it said.
North and South Kivu are provinces
in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, while Kimia II is the name of
the offensive targeting rebels from the Democratic Forces for the
Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
"Another 198 civilians were
deliberately killed by Congolese army soldiers and their Rwandan army
allies during an earlier five-week joint operation, known as Umoja
Wetu, in late January and February," the rights group said.
Earlier
on Monday, a top UN official announced that the United Nations had
withdrawn its support for Congolese army units operating in the east,
accusing its soldiers of killing 62 civilians.
Witnesses told
Human Rights Watch that at least 81 civilians were killed in early
August when Congolese army soldiers attacked five hamlets within a few
kilometres of one another around 15 kilometres (nine miles) from a UN
base.
"The attacking Congolese soldiers made no distinction
between combatants and civilians, shooting many at close range or
chopping their victims to death with machetes," the rights group said.
"In
one of the hamlets, Katanda, Congolese army soldiers decapitated four
young men, cut off their arms, and then threw their heads and limbs 20
meters away from their bodies.
"The soldiers then raped 16 women and girls, including a 12-year-old girl, later killing four of them."
Human
Rights Watch also reported brutal revenge attacks by the FDLR militia,
which it said had deliberately targeted Congolese civilians in response
to government military operations.
Between January and September the militia group deliberately killed at least 630 civilians, the rights body said.
Anneke
Van Woudenberg, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: "War
crimes committed by the FDLR militia are absolutely no justification
for Congolese government soldiers to commit atrocities."