Amnesty International: Democratic Republic of Congo soldiers have committed crimes

The international human rights organization Amnesty International has issued a statement accusing senior military officers in the Democratic Republic of Congo of being involved in crimes against humanity.

According to Amnesty International, the soldiers are accused of crimes following last year's massacre in the northeastern city of Goma in which 56 people were killed. The officers named in the report released on Wednesday are Constant Ndima Kongba, the former military governor of North Kivu province, and army officers Colonel Mike Mikombe Kalamba and Major Peter Kabwe Ngandu.

According to a non-governmental organization, "Congolese security forces engaged in killings" by shooting protesters on August 30, 2023 in Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province (east), an area that has been plagued by armed group violence for more than 30 years.

"At least 56 people were extrajudicially killed and more than 80 injured," Amnesty said. Most of the victims belonged to the mystical religious movement, Faith for Judaism and Messianism towards the Nations (FNJMN), whose leader had called for protests against the UN peacekeeping force in the DRC (MINUSCO).