Congo forms new council in push for war crimes justice

BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo, July 15 - Democratic Republic of Congo has formed a new advisory council that includes senior war crimes lawyers from the United States and Europe to support its push for accountability for atrocities committed in the country's conflict-ridden east.

The move comes as Congo's government pursues an increasingly ambitious campaign for international justice in connection with the fighting, a decades-old struggle involving dozens of armed groups and competition for mineral resources, in which millions are estimated to have died.

The conflict in eastern Congo is rooted in the fallout from neighbouring Rwanda's 1994 genocide. After the genocide, many perpetrators fled into eastern Congo, helping fuel cycles of violence that have persisted for decades.

Last month, Kinshasa filed a case at the International Court of Justice accusing Rwanda of breaching international conventions on genocide, racial discrimination and torture.

At the U.N. General Assembly last year, President Felix Tshisekedi called for recognition of what he described as a "silent genocide" in Congo and urged the creation of an international commission of inquiry to help break a "cycle of impunity".

Fighting in eastern Congo intensified last year when the AFC/M23 rebel group, which the United Nations and Western governments say is backed by Rwanda, seized large swathes of eastern Congo. Kigali denies backing the rebels.

The new advisory council, known as the Council for the Examination of Atrocities in the DRC, will advise two Congolese state institutions as they seek recognition of crimes and push for reparations for victims.

It is co-chaired by Congolese human rights activist Julienne Lusenge and Howard Morrison, a British lawyer and former judge at the International Criminal Court and the U.N. tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Other members include Stephen Rapp, the former U.S. war crimes ambassador who led the prosecution of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, and Pascal Turlan, a former senior ICC official who worked on Congo cases. REUTERS