Rights group accuses Congo’s army and a rebel group of possible war crimes

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Prominent human rights group Amnesty International accused Congo’s army and a rebel group of bombing densely populated areas in attacks that “likely constitute war crimes.”

Both the Congolese armed forces and the M23 rebel group fired unguided rockets and other explosives into densely populated areas in eastern Congo more than 150 times between January and July last year, Amnesty said in a report released Sunday. The attacks killed more than 100 civilians and wounded hundreds more.

Amnesty International called on the International Criminal Court to investigate the attacks as war crimes.

“The devastating escalation in the use of explosive weapons is a new and dangerous development in a three-decade conflict already rife with human rights and humanitarian law violations,” Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said.

The rights group’s report comes at a time of increased fighting between the Congolese army and several rebel groups in the east of the country.

More than 237,000 people have been displaced by the fighting since the beginning of this year, the United Nations refugee agency said in a report Monday.

M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a decades-long conflict that has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. More than 7 million people have been displaced.

Congo and the U.N. accuse neighboring Rwanda of backing M23. Rwanda denies the claim, but in February admitted that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo to safeguard its security, pointing to a buildup of Congolese forces near the border. U.N. experts estimate there are up to 4,000 Rwandan forces in Congo.

M23 has been making significant advances in eastern Congo in recent weeks. After capturing the key mining town of Masisi in North-Kivu province earlier this month, fighting intensified around Lumbishi, another strategic town in the neighboring South-Kivu province over the weekend.

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