San Francisco Frontiers - UN rights council launches probe of abuses in east DRC

The DR Congo itself requested the urgent meeting of the UN's top rights body to jolt the international community into action over the escalating fighting by Rwanda-backed armed group M23 in the North and South Kivu provinces.

Last week, M23 fighters and Rwandan troops seized Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu -- a mineral-rich region that has been blighted by war for over three decades -- and are now pushing into South Kivu.

The Human Rights Council's 47 member countries adopted by consensus a resolution ordering the probe -- and demanding that M23 pull out of occupied areas and the Rwandan forces withdraw from DRC territory.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned of worse to come if the violence spreads throughout the wider region.

Eastern DRC has deposits of gold and other valuable minerals including coltan, a metallic ore that is vital in making phones and laptops.

"The population in the eastern DRC is suffering terribly, while many of the products we consume or use, such as mobile phones, are created using minerals from the east of the country. We are all implicated," Turk told the council.

"If nothing is done, the worst may be yet to come, for the people of the eastern DRC, but also beyond the country's borders," he said.

"The risk of violence escalating throughout the sub-region has never been higher."

Turk insisted there could be no military solution to the conflict, which has displaced more than 500,000 people so far this year.

- 'Indiscriminate bombing' -

M23's lightning offensive against Goma was a major escalation after more than three years of fighting.

Turk said that since January 26, nearly 3,000 people have been killed and 2,880 injured, adding that the real figures were likely far higher.

Congolese communications minister Patrick Muyaya said the adopted resolution was a sign of global solidarity with people "now living under Rwandan occupation".

"The world has understood where the evil comes from and the need to work so that evil does not happen again," he told journalists.

He said it showed the world wanted the situation resolved quickly, and also for "the executioners to be known and punished".

Rwanda's ambassador James Ngango told the council his country was not responsible for the instability but claimed evidence had emerged of an "imminent large-scale attack against Rwanda".

He claimed Kinshasa had stockpiled weapons near Rwanda's border, including rockets, drones, heavy artillery which were "pointed directly at Rwanda", which would "not wait for the threat to materialise".

Ngango said Rwanda was committed to a political solution to the conflict and said it was a "widely propagated lie that mineral resources are the cause".

- 'International crimes' -

Friday's resolution called for strict measures to halt the "unlawful exploitation of natural resources" in the area.

It "strongly condemns the military and logistical support provided by the Rwanda Defence Force" to M23 and demands that they "immediately halt human rights violations".

It also demanded fighters "immediately cease all hostile actions in and withdraw from the occupied areas", and urged them to ensure unhindered humanitarian access.

The resolution called for a "fact-finding mission on the serious human rights violations and abuses and serious violations of international humanitarian law" in Kivu.

The investigators should collect evidence of abuses for use in future court cases and seek to identify those responsible, the text said.

A commission of inquiry -- the highest investigation in the rights council's armoury -- will carry on the work after the fact-finding mission reports its findings in September-October, it said.

C.Diaz--SFF