200 killed in rebel crackdown in DR Congo

Almost 200 people were killed in the city of Kisangani in reprisals for mutiny against Rwandan-backed rebels who run much of …

Almost 200 people were killed in the city of Kisangani in reprisals for mutiny against Rwandan-backed rebels who run much of the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Earlier, the rebels formally barred UN special envoy Mr Amos Ngongi, accused of bias and spreading propaganda, from the area in the east of the country under their control.

The Kigali-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) declared the head of the UN mission in Congo, MONUC, persona non grataand reiterated a demand made on Monday by the rebel group's leader Mr Adolphe Onusumba that he "be definitively withdrawn".

The RCD has been widely condemned for the alleged massacre of at least 50 people after a botched attempt on May 14th to take over rebel-held Kisangani, the DRC's third largest city.

READ MORE

Witnesses have said the RCD summarily executed a number of dissidents involved in what it has said was a mutiny, and the government in Kinshasa has said that at least 200 people died in the attempted take-over of the city and the crackdown that followed.

Kinshasa has asked the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Mary Robinson, to head an international team charged with investigating the unrest in Kisangani, in which it accuses the RCD's backer, Rwanda, of playing a key role.

AFP