Bukavu (DR Congo) (AFP) – The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group was threatening another key town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, as the United Nations top rights body said it would launch an investigation into alleged violations and abuses during the deadly clashes gripping the African nation.
In an urgent session requested by DRC itself, the UN Human Rights Council adopted Friday a resolution urging M23 fighters to withdraw immediately from occupied areas, and triggering an investigation.
During the Human Rights Council meeting UN rights chief Volker Turk warned "the risk of violence escalating throughout the sub-region has never been higher".
"If nothing is done, the worst may be yet to come, for the people of the eastern DRC, but also beyond the country's borders," he added.
He also said his team is "currently verifying multiple allegations of rape, gang rape and sexual slavery".
Also on Friday, a Swiss NGO said three local staff were killed in the area this week.
Congolese forces were bracing Friday for an assault on the town of Kavumu, which hosts an airport critical to supplying its troops, according to security, humanitarian and local sources.
Kavumu is the last barrier before the South Kivu provincial capital Bukavu on the Rwandan border, where residents were also on edge.
"We see some people starting to flee," resident Aganze Byamungu told AFP.
A local who spoke on condition of anonymity said shops were barricading their fronts and emptying storerooms for fear of looting, while schools and universities suspended classes.
"The border with Rwanda is open but almost impassable because of the number of people trying to cross. It's total chaos," they added.
The offensive has raised fears of regional war, given that several countries are engaged in supporting DRC militarily, including South Africa, Burundi and Malawi.
Burundi has sent an additional battalion to support the Congolese army, a security source told AFP on Friday.
"As we seek a joint resolution following numerous earlier initiatives, we need to understand that insecurity and conflicts in one region can escalate and destabilise the whole world," Kenyan foreign secretary Musalia Mudavadi, who is in Tanzania for the meeting, said in statement.
