Congo: Armed groups kill more than 1,300 people in the first half of 2020, says UN

United Nations in a report published on August 5 has said that more than 1,300 people were killed in the first half of 2020 by armed groups in DR Congo, three times more than in the same period in 2019, according to a news report by Daily Monitor.

According to the UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO), between January and June 2020, fighters of all armed groups were responsible for the summary executions or arbitrary killings of at least 1,315 people, including 267 women and 165 children, the UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) said.

That was more than three times the 416 such deaths recorded in the first half of 2019.

The surge is the result of a deterioration in the human rights situation in provinces where conflict is rife, particularly Ituri, South Kivu, Tanganyika, and North Kivu, the UNJHRO said.

Eastern DR Congo has been unstable for nearly three decades, its population terrorized by dozens of militia groups that are chiefly the legacy of two major wars. Violence in the gold-mining region of Ituri has raged since December 2017.

Violence in the gold mining region of Ituri has raged since December 2017. The flare-up has pitched the Hema ethnic group, who are predominantly herders, against the Lendu community, who are mostly sedentary farmers.

The UN has warned that some of the latest attacks could amount to crimes against humanity.