Congo conflict: 7,000 killed since January – Prime Minister

Congolese prime minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka said at least 7,000 people have died since January in fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tuluka stated this on Monday while speaking at a high-level meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, adding that no fewer than 450,0000 people are without shelter after 90 displacement camps were destroyed.

The M23’s advance is said to be the gravest escalation in more than a decade of the long-running conflict in eastern Congo.

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

Tuluka 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 Democratic Republic of Congo.