TUESDAY, 4.00PM
GOVERNMENT officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday refused demands by UN investigators that they be allowed to search for mass graves in the west of the country. The latest refusal comes in the face of a 48-hour ultimatum by the UN team attempting to investigate claims that troops of President Laurent Kabila murdered hundreds of Rwandan Hutu refugees shortly after he seized power from Mobutu Sese Seko.
DRC government minister in charge of the UN investigation Etienne Mbaya, referring to a letter sent to Kabila in July by UN secretary-general Koffi Annan, claimed Annan had agreed to limit the probe to the east of the country. “You will not go to Mbandaka if you do not respect the spirit of the letter that Kofi Annan wrote to Mr. Kabila,” Mbaya said.
On Monday, the 23-member team demanded authorisation to begin searching the area of Mbandaka in west of the country. The team leader said there were reports of massacres there of Rwandan Hutu refugees alleged to have been killed by Kabila’s army during its campaign to oust Mobutu.
In comments to reporters, Mbaya also said the team must conclude its investigation by December 31 this year, a date he said had previously been agreed upon by both sides.
The United Nations has not yet responded to the latest development, but it is feared it could lead to a further indefinite delay in the start of the probe.