About 7,000 people have died since January in fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), its prime minister, Judith Suminwa Tuluka told a high-level meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, February 24.
Some 450,000 people are without shelter after 90 displacement camps were destroyed, Tuluka added.
Rebel group, M23’s advance in DRC is the gravest escalation in more than a decade of the long-running conflict in eastern Congo. The group’s capture of swathes of the east and valuable mineral deposits has raised fears of a wider war.
7,000 killed since January in fighting in DRC – Prime minister
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.
Also, 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 to the M23 rebels, fueling criticism of the government’s military strategy.