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U.N. to Investigate Reports of Government-Backed Slaughter in Congo

GENEVA — The United Nations will send international experts to investigate reports that civilians are being butchered by pro-government forces and insurgents in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

By consensus, the United Nations’ main human rights body, the Human Rights Council, on Friday approved a resolution to send a team of international experts “to establish the truth” about events in Congo’s central Kasaï region, where an upsurge in violence in August last year has resulted in thousands of deaths and the destruction of entire villages. Congo’s government has resisted an independent investigation of the events.

On Tuesday, the United Nations’ human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, presented the council with gruesome details of men, pregnant women and babies who were mutilated by a government-backed militia and insurgents, and the Catholic Church in Congo reported that there had been more than 3,300 deaths since October. They include two United Nations experts murdered in March as they investigated mass graves linked to those events.

The resolution, approved after many hours of diplomatic bargaining, underscored the possibilities and limitations of the Human Rights Council at a point when it is under pressure to demonstrate its ability to respond effectively to crises.

European Union members had initially pushed for a tougher resolution calling for an international investigation on the scale of a commission of inquiry, but they dropped that proposal when it became clear that it lacked African support and Congolese ministers said they would not let its members into the country.

On Friday, the European Union members decided instead to support a resolution put forward by African countries that in different language also provided for an independent inquiry.

The Congolese authorities hailed that outcome as a triumph. Council members “had no other choice but to submit to our position because we are a sovereign country,” said Lambert Mende, the Congolese government’s spokesman.

Investigations will be led by the government, and experts provided by the United Nations will provide technical and logistical support, Congo’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Zenon Mukongo Ngay, told the council. Criticizing states that were “harassing the D.R.C. on a daily basis,” he said any new evidence would be discussed with the government before being made public.

Diplomats and human rights groups pointed out that his statement bore little relation to the language of the resolution. The resolution says Mr. Hussein will select the experts, who are to work to international standards, receive the full cooperation and support of Congolese authorities and have unhindered access to all areas.

The United States would have liked a stronger resolution, Jason Mack, the head of its human rights delegation, told the council, expressing doubt that the Congolese government had “the will and capacity to complete a transparent and credible investigation.”

The American ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, said that the investigators must be allowed to work without interference and that Congo’s government must cooperate. “If they fail to do so,” Ms. Haley said, “the Council must be prepared to act.”

Mr. Hussein, who had earlier called for an international investigation, welcomed the council’s decision and said the team of experts he selected would conduct its investigations “in a fully independent manner.”

“We think the resolution has the elements needed to produce a strong and credible outcome,” said Laila Matar, United Nations advocate at Human Rights Watch. “It brings hope that the facts can be set straight, and that’s the first step toward accountability and justice for victims.”

Still, the gap between the wording of the resolution and the reaction of the Congolese authorities raised questions about to how the resolution would be carried out. Previous council resolutions on Yemen and Sri Lanka calling for international expertise to reinforce human rights investigations and judicial processes have been met with delays and obstruction. Any backsliding in carrying out the terms of the resolution would be taken up at the council’s next session in September, a Western diplomat said.

A correction was made on 
June 24, 2017

An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of the head of the United States human rights delegation. He is Jason Mack, not Meek.

How we handle corrections

Somini Sengupta contributed reporting from the United Nations.

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