On Friday October 1, 2010, The United States Government, through the Assistant Secretary in charge of the Bureau of Public Affairs, Philip J. Crowley, has called for accountability for crimes committed against Congolese and Rwandan ethnic Hutus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) over the last decades. The call follows the publication on October 1, 2010 by UN High Commission for Human Rights of what is known as DRC Mapping Report, or with the long title: “Report of the Mapping Exercise documenting the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed within the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between March 1993 and June 2003.”
The DRC Mapping Report documents crimes against humanity, war crimes, and systematic massacres characterized as genocide committed against the Rwandan and Congolese ethnic Hutus by the Rwandan Patriotic Army, the military branch of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). According to the report the RPF, dominated by extremist Tutsis targeted Hutus, mostly children and women, with systematic massacres and for extermination.
“ The report raises serious allegations of brutal and horrific mass killings, rape and other abuses during the period in question,” said the US Government.
The statement by Philip J. Crowley insists on accountability to end impunity and stop ongoing atrocities in the DRC:
“The United States strongly supports accountability for violations of human rights and international humanitarian law around the world, including in the DRC…Accountability is an important step toward ensuring that further such incidents do not occur. The United States is firmly committed to helping the DRC and other nations in the region take positive steps to end the corrosive cycle of violence and impunity.”
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©AfroAmerica Network, 2010.
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