Fighting in Congo Has Killed More Than 3,300 People Since October
- Government rejects UN call for international investigation
- State-backed militia killing women and children, UN says
An Internally Displaced Person draws with charcoal on a wall in a camp for IDP's fleeing from conflict in Kikwait, Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 4, 2017.
Photographer: John Wessels/AFP via Getty ImagesFighting between security forces and militia members in central Democratic Republic of Congo killed more than 3,300 people since October, the country’s Catholic Church said, as the government rejected a call by the United Nations for an international investigation.
At least 3,383 people died and 20 villages were completely destroyed in the Kasai-Central region, the church said Tuesday in a report based on information from parishes in the area. Congo’s national army, which has been accused by the UN of human-rights violations, was responsible for destroying 10 of those villages, it said.