UN: at Least 890 people killed in the Congo in december

”It is of the utmost importance to this shocking violence will be investigated immediately and thoroughly and that the perpetrators are brought to justice”, says the UN commissioner for human rights (OCHCR), Michelle Bachelet, in a statement.

According to the UN agency's report they were killed almost 900 people in the violence in four different villages in Yumbi-the area between 16 and 18 december.

to 465 residential and non-residential buildings – including schools, health centers, markets and offices belonging to the congolese electoral commission – have been burned or looted.

"I must emphasise that the 890 is the number of people who we actually know was buried," says människorättsorganets spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.

– But there is evidence that many more may have been killed and their bodies dumped in the congo river, or that they may have been ihjälbrända.

the report, to have stood between the ethnic groupings banunu and batende. According to Ravina Shamdasani seems to a dispute to have arisen in connection with a local leader was buried. Local witness testimony claiming that the groups had differences of opinion on the forthcoming presidential elections.

Around 16,000 people are estimated to have fled the area when the violence started.

The brutal killing took place just a couple of weeks before the disputed presidential elections in Congo-Kinshasa. The congolese government decided in early to set up the voting in the region with reference to the unrest.

northwest of the capital, Kinshasa. OCHCR has launched an investigation of the violence and the widespread looting that must have happened in connection with it.

on Monday testified to the individual local votes, that at least 400 people have been killed in the area during the same period.