The United Nations Human Rights Council has opened an investigation into the killings and other atrocities in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The 47-member Geneva forum unanimously adopted a resolution brought forward by African countries that also called on the government of President Joseph Kabila to cooperate with the team of international experts.
U.N. rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, who is to name the experts to be tasked with that mission, has repeatedly called for an inquiry into the events in Kasai.
“We fully support the establishment of an international investigation by the Human Rights Council as a step forward in identifying the perpetrators of gross violations and bringing them to justice,” Reuters reports Zeid to say.
“The team will conduct investigations in a fully independent manner, in accordance with international standards, as mandated by the Council,” he declared.
Zeid told the Council on Tuesday that a militia linked to government has committed a string of ethnically-motivated attacks in recent months, including cutting off toddlers’ limbs and stabbing pregnant women.
