A TOP rights group called  yesterday for an investigation into a former governor and two top army officials in Congo for “possible crimes against humanity” during a deadly crackdown on demonstrators last year.

Amnesty International said in a report that Congo’s security forces killed at least 56 people and injured 80 more, during a protest in the eastern city of Goma in August 2023.

The protest was organised by a sect called the Natural Judaic and Messianic Faith Towards the Nations and known colloquially as Wazalendo. 

Its supporters were demonstrating against the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo (Monusco). 

The Monusco force arrived in Congo in 2010 to protect civilians and humanitarian personnel and to support the Congolese government in stabilisation and peace consolidation efforts. 

Eastern Congo has struggled with armed violence for decades as more than 120 groups fight for power, land and valuable mineral resources, while others try to defend their communities. 

Some armed groups have been accused of mass killings. More than seven million people have been displaced.

Goma’s Mayor Faustin Napenda Kapend banned the protest over concerns the organisers were inciting hate and violence. 

Amnesty International said it found no evidence of incitement to violence in the statements and messages from the Wazalendo it reviewed.

Congolese security and military forces amassed at major intersections in anticipation of the protest when violence broke out early in the morning. 

Amnesty International said it saw operational plans in which the security forces were given orders to “destroy isolated enemy elements.”

Tigere Chagutah, the rights group regional director for East and Southern Africa, said in the statement: “This massacre was not the result of a blunder by a few soldiers who intervened unexpectedly after Wazalendo followers stoned a police officer, as authorities have claimed.

“It was the result of a series of deliberate, planned actions by the Congolese authorities, after Monusco explicitly requested they prohibit the protest.”