The United Nations is investigating reports that Rwandan soldiers carried out human rights abuses against civilians in Democratic Republic of Congo last month, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
The U.N. mission has said it is "almost certain" the Rwandan army was involved in attacks on Hutu rebels based in eastern Congo after Kigali repeatedly threatened to send soldiers over the border to carry out surgical strikes.
"Almost certain"? This would be hilarous if it weren't so tragic.
"There is an investigation into reports that human rights violations took place during these attacks," said Patricia Tome, spokeswoman for the U.N. mission in Congo.
"There were houses that were clearly burned. According to witnesses, these alleged Rwandans shot at people without knowing if they were rebels or not," she said.
In New York, a Congolese diplomat accused Rwandan forces of wide-ranging abuses that included massacres and inhuman and degrading treatment of civilians in eastern Congo.
"These soldiers, known for their legendary cruelty toward Congolese civilians, pursue a scorched-earth policy by completely destroying our villages and forcing a massive exodus of the population to escape these abuses and massacres," Congo envoy Nduku Booto told the U.N. Security Council.
A senior U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said any evidence suggesting that war crimes had taken place during Rwandan incursions would "put an end to the idea that they just carried out surgical strikes."
Ok, honestly folks, can anyone really defend the UN here? It's taken them over a month to come to the conclusion that it is "almost certain" that human rights abuses took place in the Congo. Their remedy? None. Is this going to help anyone in Rwanda? Nope. Will it put a stop to further abuses, more slaughter in Africa? Nope.
But it goes even deeper than this. Who is ultimately responsible for this mess? The United States? Think again. Try Europe. Most African nations were European colonies at one time or another. We even have them to thank for Iraq, since it too was a European colony at one point. They made a real mess when the ultimately decided to pull out. Do you see them now stepping forward to take one iota of responsibility? Offers of assistance? Anything?
Nope. The UN will, as it always does, endlessly debate and the end result will help no one. Fingers will be pointed back and forth, resolutions will be passed and ignored, and people will ultimately die because of their inaction.
