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DR Congo's Neglected Massacre of Indigenous People
(Kinshasa, February 9, 2022) – Democratic Republic of Congo authorities have failed to fully investigate the killing of at least 66 Indigenous Iyeke people in…
(Kinshasa, February 9, 2022) – DRC authorities have failed to fully investigate the killing of at least 66 indigenous Iyeke people in Bianga district of Monkoto territory in February 2021, Human Rights Watch said today. Congo's National Assembly voted in 2021 on legislation that would protect and promote the rights of indigenous peoples for the first time, but the bill remains stalled in the Senate.
From February 1 to 3, 2021, hundreds of ethnic Nkundo raiders killed several dozen Iyeke villagers, including at least 40 children, 22 men and 4 women, and injured many others in eight villages. The attackers also burned more than 1.000 homes, as well as schools, churches and health centers, according to survivors, witnesses, civil society groups and provincial officials. Authorities initially launched an investigation but did not conduct a field investigation. A year later, no one was charged in the killings, which went largely unreported in the media. Two people were tried and acquitted on lesser charges, and the case was dropped.
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