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The United Nations Children's Fund spoke out on the massacre that killed 16 people, including five young girls under the age of 15, on June 3 in Ituri, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
"We strongly condemn this attack on innocent children. They should never pay the price for such abject acts of violence. We call on all parties to respect the rights of women and children", Édouard Beigbeder, UNICEF representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said in a statement.
This sentence comes after an attack in Moussa, a village in the Djugu region, north of Bunia, the capital of Ituri. Individuals have killed men, women and children with knives (knives) and with firearms. At least 16 civilians have been killed, according to UN-verified reports. And dozens of people fled to take refuge in neighboring villages.
This new massacre in the territory of Djugu was attributed by the authorities to armed elements of the "ethnico-mystical" group Cooperative for the development of Congo (Codeco), which rapes and kills without shame. The group claims to defend the interests and lands of the Lendu community (made up of many farmers). The majority of the victims are members of the Hema community (herders and traders), according to a report from the UN Human Rights Office published in January.
The day before, the Congolese army announced that it had killed 18 Codeco combatants and deplored the death of a soldier.
UNICEF insists that more than 300 people have died as a result of violence in Ituri province since the start of the year. The organization received, between April and May, "more than 100 reports of serious violations of children's rights, such as rape, murder and mutilation, attacks on schools and health centers in Ituri" .
Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative, said in a statement on May 21 that "these barbaric acts must stop". And the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations, Michelle Bachelet, noted for RFI that "crimes against humanity are confirmed".
Last May, UNICEF called on the international community and the government of the DRC "to act quickly to avoid a crisis that would uproot and endanger even more children".
More than 200,000 people, most of them children, fled the intensification of violence in the regions of Djugu.
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by Celine Peschard