Dropping the G-Word

Seven years after a decade-long spate of violence in the Congo, a leaked U.N. draft report on the slaughter of tens of thousands of ethnic Hutus by Rwandan soldiers tepidly says that the horrific mass killings may possibly constitute genocide. —JCL

BBC:

A draft UN report says crimes by the Rwandan army and allied rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo could be classified as genocide.

The report, seen by the BBC, details the investigation into the conflict in DR Congo from 1993 to 2003.

It says tens of thousands of ethnic Hutus, including women, children and the elderly, were killed by the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan army.

Rwanda’s justice minister has dismissed the claims as “rubbish”.

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AP / Rebecca Blackwell

In this 2009 photo, a Rwandan Hutu rebel gropes a local woman as he passes her near the village of Kimua in eastern Congo. Sexual violence often accompanies ethnic conflict.