UN criticised on Congo offensive 联合国驻刚果维和部队遭批评

United Nations peacekeepers have been criticised for supporting a government military offensive in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

刚果民主共和国的联合国维和部队因支持政府军事攻势而遭批评。

Thousands have been displaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo

A joint¹（联合的，共同的） report by several international aid agencies said the mission had had "disastrous²" humanitarian³ consequences.

It said the offensive against ethnic⁴ Hutu rebels in eastern DR Congo had caused widespread killings⁵ and rape⁶.

The Congolese and international lobby groups said the UN needed to take immediate⁷ action to protect civilians⁹.

The Congo Advocacy Coalition¹⁰ report said disarming¹¹（使人松弛的） the Hutu rebels is a top priority - but that for every rebel who has been disarmed¹² this year, one civilian⁸ has been killed, seven women or girls raped¹³, and 900,000 people made homeless.

Rapes¹⁴ and murder

The UN supplies, transports and - in some cases pays - the Congolese government army as part of international efforts to rebuild the country after many years of war.

It is currently backing a government army offensive against the FDLR rebels now based in eastern DR Congo but originally from neighbouring Rwanda, where some of them took part in the genocide of 1994.

Since January, it has also been reported that more than 1,000 civilians have been killed, 7,000 women and girls have been raped, and more than 6,000 homes have been burned down in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu.

The coalition（联合，合并） urged diplomats¹⁵ and UN officials to discuss the situation during a scheduled meeting in Washington DC this week.

Some of the violence has been reprisals¹⁶（报复性没收，拘押） carried out by the Hutu rebels, the report said, but Congolese government soldiers had also targeted civilians through killings, rape and looting.

The report includes satellite pictures of villages in eastern DR Congo taken before and after the government offensive and rebel reprisals.

The pictures show apparently¹⁷ busy villages reduced to abandoned, burnt-out huts.

Marcel Stoessel, who leads aid organisation¹⁸ Oxfam's operations in the area, said: "The human rights and humanitarian consequences of the current military operation are simply disastrous.

"UN peacekeepers, who have a mandate¹⁹（命令，要求） to protect civilians, urgently need to work with government forces to make sure civilians get the protection they need, or discontinue their support."

The coalition said the UN had failed to use its influence to stop the government army employing commanders with a known record of human rights abuses.

Anneke Van Woudenberg, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the UN needed to use its clout²⁰（巨大的影响）.

She said: "The UN needs to make it clear that if the Congolese government wants its continued military support, the army should remove abusive（辱骂的，虐待的） soldiers from command positions and its soldiers should stop attacking civilians."