3 mass graves found in DRC

2008-05-24 10:29

Kinshasa - United Nations forces discovered three mass graves containing more than 100 bodies on Friday in restive eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, though officials said none of the sites appeared to be recent.

A South African patrol came across the graves near the village of Maboya, in North Kivu province, said Kemal Saiki, a spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African country.

Nearly four million people were believed to have died in the DRC's 1998-2002 war, and mass graves had been found dotted through the country, which was the size of western Europe.

DRC had been struggling since the end of the conflict to establish a functioning democracy, but the east had remained largely lawless with militias and local warlords fighting the army for control.

Saiki said Congolese authorities were expected to open an investigation into the gravesites.

"These graves do not appear to date from any recent period," he said. Saiki said they have counted 100 bodies in one grave, seven in another, and did not yet have a figure for the third.

Justice Minister Mutombo Bakafwa Senda said the government had started collecting information on the sites.

- AP