HRW condemns Congo's gang sweep, extrajudicial killings

A report issued by rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday concludes that Congolese police in an effort to crackdown on "kuluna," or gangs, summarily executed 51 people and disappeared dozens more.

The extrajudicial killings, according to the report based on witness testimony, were carried out outside the victims' homes or in open markets to incite fear. Five of those killed were teenage boys between the ages of 14 and 17. The report found that some of the men were unarmed at the time of their execution.

HRW urged international donors and the United Nations to "publicly and privately" put pressure on Kinshasa to arrest and prosecute those responsible.

Authorities in Congo's capital conducted "Operation Likofi" last November in a bid to crack down on gang violence. The operation lasted three months and HRW acknowledged the possibility that many more people had died in the sweep than it was able to document.

Tuesday's report said authorities had attempted to cover up the killings of innocent people by issuing gag orders to doctors, threatening journalists and denying relatives access to the bodies of their deceased loved ones. It was based on statements given by relatives, police and government officials.

In June this year, Human Rights Watch issued a report on widespread sexual violence in Congo, especially in the east of the country. It called on Kinshasa to bring perpetrators, including soldiers and police, to justice. That report said the justice system in Congo was beset by corruption, limited capacity and political interference.

Top UN rights official expelled

In mid-October, the Interior Ministry in the Democratic Republic of Congo released a statement confirming the order to expel Scott Campbell, director of the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) in Congo, who had been monitoring the human rights situation in the country.

"The present report, under examination, was led in a partial and partisan manner, with the manifest intention of discrediting the PNC (Congolese National Police), of demoralizing its agents and destabilizing the institutions of the Republic," said Interior Minister Richard Muyej, calling Campbell a "persona non grata."

The move came a day after the UNJHRO released a report accusing Congolese national police of executions during a crackdown on gangs.

That report found that police had summarily executed at least nine men in Kinshasa between November 2013 and February 2014.

It also said sources told investigators that the victims, men aged between 16 and 44, were usually shot, strangled or hanged at a police station in the city's Limete neighborhood.

Rebel group violence

The Democratic Republic of the Congo gained its independence from Belgium in 1960 and struggled with back-to-back wars between 1998 and 2002. The east of the country is home to various armed groups fighting for control of vast mineral resources.

sb/av (AP, Reuters)