8 Nov 2008

UN adviser warns Congo against genocide

A key U.N. adviser warned combatants in eastern Congo Friday against any actions that might encourage genocide, saying anyone promoting ethnic killings will be held accountable.

Francis Deng, the special adviser on genocide to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said he has been "especially alarmed by the escalation of violence in the past few weeks."

The conflict in eastern Congo is fueled by ethnic hatred left over from genocide in 1994 the claimed half-million Tutsis in neighboring Rwanda. Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, who went on the offensive Aug. 28, claims he is fighting to protect minority Tutsis from Rwandan Hutu rebels who participated in the genocide and fled to Congo afterward.

In a statement released at U.N. headquarters, Deng emphasized "that the belligerents in eastern Congo must refrain from actions that might encourage genocide and that they, and any actors who provide material support, will be held accountable if they fail to do so."

He said that under international law "the intention to destroy an ethnic population group, in whole or in part, is a grave crime" and that the international community is obligated to punish violators.

The Associated Press