GENEVA: The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group has summarily executed children in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
The UN rights office warned the situation in eastern DRC was “deteriorating sharply, resulting in serious human rights violations and abuses.”
“Our office has confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week,” rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
“We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons,” she said.
She urged “Rwanda and M23 to ensure that human rights and international humanitarian law are respected.”
M23 fighters and Rwandan soldiers have seized Goma and Bukavu, the capitals of North and South Kivu provinces respectively.
In South Kivu, more than 150,000 people have been forced to flee, UN refugee agency UNHCR said.
UN experts say Rwanda effectively controls M23 and has at least 4,000 troops fighting alongside it.
The DRC government accuses Rwanda of “expansionist ambitions” and says it is stealing vast amounts of minerals.
Shamdasani said the situation was “very chaotic,” and the UN rights office was “receiving a lot of information... which we are not able to confirm or verify.”
It had, however, confirmed a case of three boys, thought to be aged between 11 and 15, who had been killed in Bukavu on Sunday “during an altercation with members of M23.”
The boys were allegedly wearing uniforms and carrying weapons found in an abandoned DRC army camp, firing shots and looting stores, she said.
“What appears to have happened is that they were asked to surrender their weapons and they refused to do so and they were killed,” she said.
The rights office had also documented cases of “ill treatment, conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence, child and forced recruitment, intimidation and death threats,” she said.
Prison breaks from South Kivu’s Kabare and Bukavu jails on Friday had made matters worse.
“We have received protection requests from victims and witnesses (who) fear retaliation from escapees, given their active participation in the trials against some of these prisoners convicted of grave human rights violations and abuses, some of which amount to international crimes,” she said.
She said the UN had received “reports that journalists, human rights defenders and members of civil society organizations have been threatened, and forced to leave.”
UN rights chief Volker Turk “expresses his horror at the events unfolding in South and North Kivu, and the impact this is having on civilians,” she said.
“The risks of this spilling over into an even deeper and wider conflict are frighteningly real.”
The fighting has already spurred an exodus toward neighboring Burundi, UNHCR warned.
“Between 10,000 and 15,000 people have crossed into Burundi over the last few days,” spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh told reporters.
“Most of those arriving are Congolese, mainly from the Bukavu area,” he said.
He highlighted reports of thousands more people arriving through “unofficial border points,” including across rivers, “with reports of several individuals drowning.”
“Conditions in the communities near the border are extremely dire, with a lack of shelter, water and sanitation facilities,” he said.
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UN condemns ‘summary executions’ of children by M23 in DR Congo
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UN condemns ‘summary executions’ of children by M23 in DR Congo
- “Our office has confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last week,” rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said
- “We are also aware that children were in possession of weapons“
Teenage preacher to alleged mass killer: Bondi attack suspect’s background emerges
SYDNEY/MANILA: Standing in the rain outside a suburban Sydney train station, seventeen-year-old Naveed Akram stares into the camera and urges those watching to spread the word of Islam.
“Spread the message that Allah is One wherever you can ... whether it be raining, hailing or clear sky,” he said.
Another since-deleted video posted in 2019 by Street Dawah Movement, a Sydney-based Islamic community group, shows him urging two young boys to pray more frequently.
Authorities are now trying to piece together what happened in the intervening six years that led a teenager volunteering to hand out pamphlets for a non-violent community group to allegedly carry out Australia’s worst mass shooting in decades.
Akram, who remains under heavy guard in hospital after being shot by police, was briefly investigated by Australia’s domestic intelligence agency in 2019 for links to individuals connected to Islamic State, but authorities found he did not have extremist tendencies at the time.
“In the years that followed, that changed,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Tuesday.
Police have not formally identified Naveed Akram, 24, as one of the alleged gunmen who killed 15 people at a Jewish event on a Sydney beach on Sunday. His father Sajid Akram, 50, is the other gunman who was shot and killed by police, local media reported.
Officials have said the second gunman is the deceased man’s son and is in a critical condition in hospital.
MOTIVATED BY DAESH
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday the attack was likely motivated by the ideology of Daesh, but that the two men appeared to have acted alone.
Homemade Daesh flags were found in the suspects’ car after Sunday’s attack, and police said on Tuesday the pair had last month visited the Philippines, where offshoots of the militant group have a presence.
A spokesperson for the Philippines Bureau of Immigration said Akram, an Australian national, arrived in the country on November 1 with his father, who was traveling on an Indian passport.
Both reported Davao as their final destination, the main city on Mindanao island, which has a history of Islamist insurgency. A months-long conflict on the island in 2017 between armed forces and two militant groups linked to IS left over a thousand dead and a million displaced, though the country’s military says these groups are now fragmented and weakened.
The pair left the Philippines on November 28, two weeks before Sunday’s attack using high-powered shotguns and rifles.
’NEVER DID ANYTHING UNUSUAL’
Local media reported that Akram, an unemployed bricklayer, attended high school in Cabramatta, a suburb around 30 kilometers by road from Sydney’s central business district and close to the family’s current home in Bonnyrigg, which was raided by police after the attacks.
“I could have never imagined in 100 years that this could be his doing,” former classmate Steven Luong told The Daily Mail.
“He was a very nice person. He never did anything unusual. He never even interrupted in class.”
After leaving school, Akram showed a keen interest in Islam, seeking tutoring and attending several Street Dawah Movement events. The group confirmed he appeared in the videos.
“We at Street Dawah Movement are horrified by his actions and we are appalled by his criminal behavior,” the group said in a statement, adding Akram had attended several events in 2019 but was not a member of the organization.
Months after the videos were posted, Akram approached tutor Adam Ismail seeking tuition in Arabic and the Qur'an, studying with him for a combined period of one year.
Ismail’s language institute posted a photo in 2022, since deleted, showing Akram smiling while holding a certificate in Qur'anic recitation.
“Not everyone who recites the Qur'an understands it or lives by its teachings, and sadly, this appears to be the case here,” Ismail said in a video statement late on Monday.
“I condemn this act of violence without hesitation.”
EARLIER TIES TO DAESH NOT PROVEN
Two of the people he was associated with in 2019 were charged and went to jail but Akram was not seen at that time to be a person of interest, Albanese said.
However he was radicalized, Akram’s journey from a teenager interested in Islam to one of Australia’s worst alleged killers has taken not just the public, but also law enforcement by surprise.
“We are very much working through the background of both persons,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told reporters on Monday.
“At this stage, we know very little about them.”
“Spread the message that Allah is One wherever you can ... whether it be raining, hailing or clear sky,” he said.
Another since-deleted video posted in 2019 by Street Dawah Movement, a Sydney-based Islamic community group, shows him urging two young boys to pray more frequently.
Authorities are now trying to piece together what happened in the intervening six years that led a teenager volunteering to hand out pamphlets for a non-violent community group to allegedly carry out Australia’s worst mass shooting in decades.
Akram, who remains under heavy guard in hospital after being shot by police, was briefly investigated by Australia’s domestic intelligence agency in 2019 for links to individuals connected to Islamic State, but authorities found he did not have extremist tendencies at the time.
“In the years that followed, that changed,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Tuesday.
Police have not formally identified Naveed Akram, 24, as one of the alleged gunmen who killed 15 people at a Jewish event on a Sydney beach on Sunday. His father Sajid Akram, 50, is the other gunman who was shot and killed by police, local media reported.
Officials have said the second gunman is the deceased man’s son and is in a critical condition in hospital.
MOTIVATED BY DAESH
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday the attack was likely motivated by the ideology of Daesh, but that the two men appeared to have acted alone.
Homemade Daesh flags were found in the suspects’ car after Sunday’s attack, and police said on Tuesday the pair had last month visited the Philippines, where offshoots of the militant group have a presence.
A spokesperson for the Philippines Bureau of Immigration said Akram, an Australian national, arrived in the country on November 1 with his father, who was traveling on an Indian passport.
Both reported Davao as their final destination, the main city on Mindanao island, which has a history of Islamist insurgency. A months-long conflict on the island in 2017 between armed forces and two militant groups linked to IS left over a thousand dead and a million displaced, though the country’s military says these groups are now fragmented and weakened.
The pair left the Philippines on November 28, two weeks before Sunday’s attack using high-powered shotguns and rifles.
’NEVER DID ANYTHING UNUSUAL’
Local media reported that Akram, an unemployed bricklayer, attended high school in Cabramatta, a suburb around 30 kilometers by road from Sydney’s central business district and close to the family’s current home in Bonnyrigg, which was raided by police after the attacks.
“I could have never imagined in 100 years that this could be his doing,” former classmate Steven Luong told The Daily Mail.
“He was a very nice person. He never did anything unusual. He never even interrupted in class.”
After leaving school, Akram showed a keen interest in Islam, seeking tutoring and attending several Street Dawah Movement events. The group confirmed he appeared in the videos.
“We at Street Dawah Movement are horrified by his actions and we are appalled by his criminal behavior,” the group said in a statement, adding Akram had attended several events in 2019 but was not a member of the organization.
Months after the videos were posted, Akram approached tutor Adam Ismail seeking tuition in Arabic and the Qur'an, studying with him for a combined period of one year.
Ismail’s language institute posted a photo in 2022, since deleted, showing Akram smiling while holding a certificate in Qur'anic recitation.
“Not everyone who recites the Qur'an understands it or lives by its teachings, and sadly, this appears to be the case here,” Ismail said in a video statement late on Monday.
“I condemn this act of violence without hesitation.”
EARLIER TIES TO DAESH NOT PROVEN
Two of the people he was associated with in 2019 were charged and went to jail but Akram was not seen at that time to be a person of interest, Albanese said.
However he was radicalized, Akram’s journey from a teenager interested in Islam to one of Australia’s worst alleged killers has taken not just the public, but also law enforcement by surprise.
“We are very much working through the background of both persons,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told reporters on Monday.
“At this stage, we know very little about them.”
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