This report focuses on grave violations of human rights, including arbitrary executions and forced displacement on a large scale, perpetrated against civilians in Masisi territory, North Kivu province, between April and September 2012. The UNJHRO confirms the arbitrary executions of at least 264 people, of whom 246 were killed by combatants from Raïa Mutomboki and Mayi Mayi Kifuafua and 18 were killed by combatants of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and Nyatura militiamen. Other serious human rights violations, including rape, the destruction and looting of private property and the forced displacement of tens of thousands of civilians, were also documented. The total number of victims may be significantly higher, given that it was not possible to verify many allegations of human rights violations, in particular due to security constraints. The ethnic dimension of the attacks is of particular concern in a region which, for more than 15 years, has experienced cycles of violence often of an ethnic character, even if the underlying objectives relate to control of land and natural resources. The risk of intensification of ethnic violence gives rise to serious concerns for the peace and security of civilians in the region, all the more so given that the UNJHRO has received serious allegations of similar violence in other parts of North Kivu as well as in South Kivu.

Date of Publication: 14 November 2012

Original language: French