The UN has expressed shock at the killing of 17  civilians, including women in labour and patients receiving care, slaughtered inside a Catholic Church-run health centre in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) last week.

The UN, in  a statement on Friday,  described the killing as one of the most appalling attacks in a new wave of violence by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an armed extremist rebel group.

Four wards housing patients were set ablaze during the assault in Byambwe, a remote community about 60 kilometres west of Lubero in the restive North Kivu province, which has been plagued by fighting between a plethora of armed groups and national security forces for years.

The Byambwe killings were part of a series of coordinated attacks carried out between November 13 and 19 in several localities of Lubero Territory.

According to information gathered on the ground by UN human rights staff from the MONUSCO peacekeeping mission, 89 civilians were killed in total, including at least 20 women and an undetermined number of children.

Other areas hit by the violence include Mabiango, Tunarudi, Sambalysa, Thucha and Butsili, where abuses ranged from abductions and the looting of medical supplies to the burning of homes and the destruction of property.

UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists  in New York that “as we dig deeper, and as we have sent people there, the information we have received is truly horrific.”

The UN extended its condolences to the affected families and communities, stressing that attacks on civilians, particularly medical facilities, may amount to war crimes and serious violations of international humanitarian law.

“We express our solidarity with all those affected,” Dujarric said. “Violence committed against civilians, including the targeting of medical facilities, may constitute war crimes.”

MONUSCO said it remained fully committed to supporting Congolese authorities in protecting civilians, preventing further human rights violations and combating impunity.

The stabilisation mission urged national authorities to promptly open independent and credible investigations to identify those responsible for the massacres and bring them to justice.

It also renewed its call for armed groups operating in the region to lay down their weapons unconditionally.

Dujarric said that “all too often,” massacres of the kind reported in Lubero happen away from the eyes of journalists, away from the eyes of the international community.”

He called on regional powers to cooperate and for armed groups to disarm, “so that those who are responsible for these crimes that are beyond words [can] be brought to justice.”

The Allied Democratic Forces are an armed group of Ugandan origin that has operated in eastern DRC for decades. 

(NAN)