Fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has claimed 7,000 lives since January, Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka told a high-level session of the UN Human Rights Council on Monday.
Speaking in Geneva, Suminwa Tuluka warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis, with 450,000 people left without shelter after the destruction of 90 displacement camps.
The resurgence of the M23 rebellion marks the most severe escalation in over a decade of violence in eastern Congo. Kinshasa, along with the United Nations and Western governments, accuses Rwanda of backing the rebel group with arms and troops—allegations Kigali denies.
Suminwa Tuluka called for urgent international action, urging the imposition of “dissuasive sanctions” in response to mass displacement and widespread atrocities.
“It is impossible to describe the screams and cries of millions of victims of this conflict,” she said.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in his opening address to the 58th UN Human Rights Council, warned that human rights were being “suffocated” worldwide and cited grave abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
