A new conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has seen hundreds killed, a million displaced and the reported recruitment of thousands of child soldiers. The BBC’s Catherine Byaruhanga has gained rare access to central Kasai region to report on the crisis, sparked by the killing of a rebel leader last year.
Paul’s lips tremble, his voice breaks and he visibly shakes as he recounts the trauma he has been through. He tells me that government soldiers raided his village, then made him dig a mass grave in which 60 people, including members of his own family and neighbours, were buried. “They killed people and raped women. Then, the next day we saw a general. He said ‘Come out of your house; we’re not going to kill any more.’
“He told us to bury the people – even members of my family, even people I knew.” The UN says it has now found 40 mass graves in the region connected with the conflict.
Paul’s story (we’ve changed his name to protect his identity) fits into a broader picture of alleged rights violations by Congolese security forces in the area, who are accused of killing scores of civilians as part their campaign to put down an insurgency by a group known as the Kamuina Nsapu.
A UN report, external detailed one incident in March in which police allegedly shot three children in the head, after forcing them to lie on the floor during a raid on a community suspected of connections to the militia group.
The insurgency in the central Kasai region, a stronghold for opponents of President Joseph Kabila, threatens the country’s already highly fragile political situation. The roots of this conflict were local, but the violence has now spread to five central provinces. It began when the government refused to recognise a traditional chief who went by the title Kamuina Nsapu. He set up a militia and was killed in clashes with the government last August.
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