UN accuses DR Congo government of backing militia that stabbed pregnant women and mutilated toddlers

The United Nations has accused the Congolese government of backing a militia that was said to have stabbed pregnant women and mutilated toddlers in the Kasai region.

The Associated Press reported that U.N. has called for an international investigation on the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo following accounts of babies with machete wounds and pregnant women sliced open.

"I am appalled by the creation and arming of a militia, the Bana Mura, allegedly to support the authorities in fighting the Kamwina Nsapu (rebels)," Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Zeid, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the new group had carried out attacks targeting civilians from the Luba and Lulua ethnic groups.

"My team saw children as young as two whose limbs had been chopped off. Many babies had machete wounds and severe burns ... At least two pregnant women were sliced open and their foetuses mutilated," he stated.

A report released by the Catholic church on Tuesday has noted that 3,383 people have been killed in Congo's volatile Kasai provinces since August. The U.N. has estimated that about 1.3 million people have fled their homes to avoid the conflict in the region.

The conflict began after a tribal chieftain named Kamwina Nsapu was killed in a military operation in August after his followers rebelled against Congolese authorities. Nsapu had openly challenged the authority of President Joseph Kabila's government, provoking security forces to launch a crackdown against his militia.

According to the church report, the DRC armed forces (FARDC) had destroyed 10 villages in an attempt to put down the insurrection. Four villages have been destroyed by tribal militias while six were ravaged by unknown forces. The document has noted the discovery of 30 mass graves, while the U.N. has spoken of 42.

Zeid said that the Congolese government's efforts have been "clearly insufficient in view of the massive scale and horrific nature of the crimes that have taken place and, sadly, continue."

DR Congo's Human Rights Minister Marie Ange Mushobekwa responded to the Zeid's report, saying the government has nothing to hide.

"Some countries ... should not try to use the Human Rights Council — such a respectable institution — to settle scores with states whose leaders they don't like," Mushobekwa stated.

She also disputed the claims about the mass graves, saying there has not been enough evidence provided to confirm such reports.

In February, the Catholic Church reported that its churches have been targeted in attacks, with some buildings desecrated and Christian nuns terrorized.

The U.N.'s humanitarian office made an appeal for $65 million in emergency funds in April, but only $5.2 million so far has been provided.