7,000 killed since January in fighting in DRC, prime minister says

Some 7,000 people have died since January in fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), its prime minister told a high-level meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.

Some 450,0000 people are without shelter after 90 displacement camps were destroyed, Judith Suminwa Tuluka added.

The M23’s advance is the gravest escalation in more than a decade of the long-running conflict in eastern Congo. The rebel group’s capture of swathes of the east and valuable mineral deposits has fanned fears of a wider war.

Rwanda rejects allegations from Congo, the United Nations and Western powers that it supports M23 with arms and troops.

The prime minister urged the world to act and to impose “dissuasive sanctions” amid mass displacements and summary executions.

“It is impossible to describe the screams and cries of millions of victims of this conflict,” she added.

In the opening remarks at the 58th UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, UN chief Antonio Guterres said that human rights around the world are being “suffocated” and referred to horrifying human rights abuses in the DRC.

Since the start of the year, the DRC has faced back-to-back losses in North and South Kivu provinces, fueling criticism of the authorities’ military strategy.