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The army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Wednesday used force to disperse a protest against the United Nations in the eastern city of Goma, killing at least 43 people and injuring 56, plus 158 arrests.
The U.N. was horrified by the violence deployed against the protesters, especially after footage emerged on social media showing DRC soldiers piling up dead civilians in trucks and carting them through Goma.
DR Congo: 7 victims of the carnage carried out by the army against unarmed civilians demanding the departure of @MONUSCO yesterday in Goma.
Other bodies are notably hidden in the Katindo camp military hospital. pic.twitter.com/meG2L8dtVQ
African News feed. (@africansinnews) August 31, 2023
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday authenticated these videos and said it has “credible reports that most of the bodies were being kept in a morgue at a military hospital, to which the deceased’s family members are not allowed access.”
“Congolese military forces appear to have fired into a crowd to prevent a demonstration, an extremely callous as well as unlawful way to enforce a ban,” said HRW researcher Thomas Fessy.
“For two years, the military authorities have used the ‘state of siege’ – martial law – in North Kivu province to brutally crack down on fundamental liberties,” Fessy charged.
The protesters were also violent, laying siege to several posts manned by U.N. peacekeepers and inflicting a large number of stab wounds, according to Red Cross emergency doctors.
U.N. Human Rights Commission spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said her office was “extremely alarmed” by the killings in Goma, particularly since it has “received information indicating that the death toll may be higher.
