Human Rights Watch says the massacre that took place last December in the Democratic Republic of Congo was previously unreported.
28 March 2010
Democratic Republic of Congo
Photo: VOA
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A U.S.-based rights group says rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least 321 villagers in a previously unreported massacre last December.
In a report issued Sunday, Human Rights Watch says Lord's Resistance Army rebels began a four-day killing spree on December 14 in at least 10 villages in the DRC's northeastern province of Haut Uele.
The group says most of the massacred villagers were men who were tied up, attacked with machetes, and had their skulls crushed with axes. It says the dead included a 3-year-old girl who was burned to death.
Human Rights Watch says the LRA rebels also abducted at least 250 people from the villages, including 80 children.
The group says the rebels forced many of the children to kill other children who disobeyed rebel rules.
HRW's senior Africa researcher, Anneke Van Woudenberg, says the massacre is one of the worst ever committed by the LRA in its 23-year history.
LRA leader Joseph Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges.
A U.N. official confirmed the massacre and said the world body is investigating.
U.N. investigation chief Liliane Egounlety told the Reuters news agency it has confirmed 290 deaths so far.
U.N. officials say it has taken a long time to carry out the investigation because of the remoteness of the area.
The LRA originally was based in Uganda but now also operates in an area straddling the borders of the DRC, the Central African Republic and Sudan. The rebels are accused of killing, kidnapping and mutilating thousands of people.
Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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