UN to probe Congo violations

The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold an emergency session this week to probe alleged violations including killings in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The one-day special session in Geneva, set for Friday, was requested by France on behalf of the European Union, he said.

A new UN report, obtained by Reuters in New York on Monday, accused government and rebel armed groups in the former Zaire of committing mass killings, rape and torture.

The report, prepared by the office of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said members of the Congolese army and national police "were responsible for a large number of serious human rights violations ... namely arbitrary executions, rape, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment."

Renegade Congolese Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda's CNDP, other rebel groups and Rwandan militia accused of taking part in Rwanda's 1994 genocide, "perpetrated serious human rights abuses with impunity," the report to the UN Security Council said.

Congolese President Joseph Kabila's government on Tuesday ruled out direct talks with Nkunda, as has been urged by UN mediator Olusegun Obasanjo, a former Nigerian president.

Some 50 activist groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, appealed last week to the Council's President, Nigerian Ambassador Martin Uhomoibhi, to hold an emergency session as the civilian toll rises.

"Our organisations are seriously concerned about the escalation of killings, sexual violence and looting," they said in a joint letter issued publicly.

The Geneva-based Council, created in 2006 to replace the widely discredited UN Human Rights Commission, has previously held special sessions on reported abuses in Myanmar, Sudan's Darfur region, and the Palestinian territories, as well as the impact of rising food prices on the world's poorest people.

- Reuters