Over 7,000 people killed in the east Dr. Congo in January: Premier

Geneva – The violence that ravages in the East Democratic Republic of Congo killed “over 7,000 compatriots”, many of them civilians, since last month, said Congolese Prime Minister on Monday.

The M23 reinforced group, supported by Rwanda, confiscated large Eastern RDCs rich in minerals-including the main Goma and Bukavu cities in the face of the limited resistance from Congolese forces.

“The Security situation in the eastern RDC has reached alarming levels,” said Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka, the United Nations Human Rights in Geneva, stressing that since January, “deaths of over 7,000 compatriots” have been registered.

Read: M23 pushes deeper into East DRC, UN asks Rwanda forces to leave

These include “more than 2,500 bodies buried without being identified,” she said, adding that another 1,500 bodies were still in the morgue.

Asked at a press briefing at the edge of the council if the dead are civil or soldiers, she said that “for now … we have not yet been able to identify all these people.”

But, she emphasized, “there is a significant mass of civilians who are part of these dead.”

M23 movementSupported by approximately 4,000 Rwanda soldiers, according to UN experts, now controls large areas of the Eastern RDC, a disturbed region rich in natural resources.

His quick advance sent thousands of people running away.

The fighters took control of the provincial capital of South Kivu a little over a week, after first capturing Goma, the North Kivu Capital and the main city in the east of the country last month.

The prime minister said that over 3,000 people were only killed in Goma.